New York Giants: It’s Time to Move on From Eli Manning, Tom Coughlin

After 11 years it’s time for the New York Giants to end the Eli Manning/Tom Coughlin era

The New York Giants hit what could be rock bottom Monday night, falling behind the Indianapolis Colts 40-10 early in the fourth quarter, before two garbage-time touchdowns made the final score look respectable. That 40-24 home loss dropped the Giants to 3-5 on the season and highlighted everything wrong with the franchise. This season appears to be a lost cause, and it’s time for the Giants move on from the Eli Manning-Tom Coughlin era.

Manning and Coughlin have helped bring two Super Bowl titles to New York, but since winning Super Bowl XLVI, the Giants are 19-21 and haven’t reached the postseason. If the G-Men continue on this path, they will miss the playoffs for the fifth time in six years.

While Coughlin has seemingly been on the hot seat for years, Manning has often escaped criticism. Coming off the worst season of his career, the lesser Manning has decent numbers this year, but still hasn’t risen to the heights one would expect of a guy with his paycheck.

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Manning is making $16.25 million this season and for that the Giants should be getting a top five quarterback. Instead they’re stuck with a guy whose current value nationally rests somewhere between “Songs of Innocence” and the Democratic National Committee. The 33-year-old isn’t getting any better and the Giants owe him $17 million next season, before he becomes a free agent in 2016. The franchise needs to start planning for a Manning-less future immediately.

On Monday night, Manning was terrible when the game mattered. Sure, his receivers dropped a few balls, but he also overthrew them on far too many occasions. He also fumbled twice, losing one in the third quarter when he showed absolutely no pocket awareness. He finished the contest with two touchdown passes, but both came in garbage-time when the Colts had pulled some of their starting defense. He also completed just 27 of 52 passes (51.9 percent) against an Indianapolis defense that ranks 26th against the pass. It was a terrible night all around for Manning the Younger, but hey, women in Oklahoma still love him.

In what is supposed to be a very quarterback-friendly system under the guidance of first-year offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, Manning is completing just 62.5 percent of his passes and is averaging a paltry 6.98 yards per attempt. His completion percentage ranks 20th in the league, while he ranks 23rd in yards per attempt. Manning’s offense currently ranks 18th in yards (345.9 per game), 20th in points (22.3 per game), 17th in passing yards (235.4 per game) and 16th in rushing yards (110.5 per game). Again, for an offense led by a supposed franchise quarterback, those numbers are awful.

Manning isn’t the turnover machine he was last season, when he threw a league-high 27 interceptions and fumbled seven times, but he’s not commanding his offense or leading it effectively either. New York’s roster isn’t helping him along, but great quarterbacks make the most of what they have. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger have all shown the ability overcome weak offensive line play and a dearth of weapons to win games over the years. To use a war analogy, if Peyton Manning is the American Revolution of quarterbacks, his younger brother is the Whiskey Rebellion.

Eli has 16 touchdowns against just five interceptions this season but when you look deeper into the numbers he hasn’t been good. The Giants are converting on just 39.6 percent of their third downs and Manning has a quarterback rating of just 86.8 in those situations. And instead of being cool and composed when his team is behind, his quarterback rating actually slips to 86.2 when trailing and four of his five interceptions have come in those situations. He’s also losing out in the slouchy, disinterested sideline camera shots game to Jay Cutler, so nothing is going right this season.

We shouldn’t place all the blame on Manning though, since his head couch should shoulder plenty of the blame. Tom Coughlin is respected around the league, but the modern NFL may have passed him by. He is 68 and is in his 11th season with the Giants. Sometimes franchises need new voices. Clearly, the Giants aren’t buying whatever Coughlin is selling. New York’s three wins this season have come over the Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons and Washington. Those teams have a combined record of 9-16. That’s nothing to be proud of.

The big financial decision the New York Giants will face over the next two years is what to do with Manning. If he had a promising season in 2014, there was a chance he could work out a long-term extension that would allow him to finish his career in New York. At this point, the only incentive for the Giants to do that would be to lower the enormous cap hit they will take on him in 2015.

After 11 years of working together and bringing two championships to New York, it’s probably time for the Giants to move past the Manning-Coughlin era. The team just isn’t performing up to expectations and a third consecutive season without a playoff berth should be the final straw.

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