Giants bench Eli Manning going into week three

Published 10:24 am Tuesday, September 17, 2019

The Eli Manning era in New York may be coming to an end.

On Tuesday morning, the New York Giants announced they would be starting their 2019 first-round pick, Daniel Jones, in Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers instead of Manning.

After starting the season 0-2, the team decided it’s time for a change. But this change could reset the direction of a franchise for decades to come. Manning has been a fixture in New York since they drafted him No. 1 overall in 2003, Manning has won two Super Bowls with the Giants, beating the New England Patriots in both 2008 and 2012, and made four Pro-Bowls. But the now-38-year-old quarterback has not performed his best since the Giants’ 2012 Super Bowl victory.

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It’s worth noting that fans have been here before. The Giants, under a different regime, benched Eli Manning for Geno Smith back in 2017. Smith played fine in a week 12 game, throwing for 212 yards and a touchdown in a 17-24 loss, but the team went back to Manning the following week amid a public outcry from Giants fans. No such outcry is happening right now.

Dating back to 2013, Manning is 38-59 as a starter in New York. Granted, the team around him (specifically the offensive line) hasn’t been great, but neither has Manning. He led the league in that 2013 season in interceptions, throwing a preposterous 27 picks, the worst single-season interception total this decade.

It’s a sad day in New York, but it’s hard to say the Giants are making the wrong decision.