DavidGreen
Posted by DavidGreen
Jan 26, 2020

Introduction

On Wednesday, January 22, 2020 the New York Giants veteran quarterback, Eli Manning, announced that he is retiring from playing professional football in the NFL after 16 long and successful seasons. He will be handing the torch over to last year’s first round draft selection, quarterback Daniel Jones, from Duke University. Jones performed decently in his game action during the 2019 – 2020 NFL season, and the Giants are confident he is the predecessor to Eli Manning.

Eli Manning’s NFL Career Accomplishments and Awards

Manning played his entire 16 season career in the National Football League with the New York Giants from 2004 to 2019. The Ole Miss star quarterback is a 2 time Super Bowl champion (XLII, XLVI), and he was named as the MVP of both of those Super Bowls. Eli Manning was selected to the NFL Pro Bowl on 4 separate occasions (2008, 2011, 2012, 2015). In 2016 he won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and the Bart Starr Award in 2020. He finished his solid career with 4,895 completions for 57,023 passing yards. Manning threw 366 touchdowns and 244 interceptions.

Does Eli Manning Belong in the Football Hall of Fame?

There is currently a very debatable consideration for whether or not Eli Manning deserves to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I believe he does for leading the New York Giants to 2 Super Bowl victories and he was the MVP of both of those Super Bowls. Some people will argue his numbers are very average over the course of his 16 year NFL career, but his big game clutch performances especially those in the playoffs and Super Bowls are a major reason for those championships he helped bring back to New York. I do not think that the Giants would have won a Super Bowl over the last decades without his services at the very important quarterback position. It will be interesting to see how the voting goes once he becomes eligible for the Football Hall of Fame.

The Future of the New York Giants Football Team

Moving forward the New York Giants recently fired their former head coach Pat Shurmur, and they brought in Joe Judge as their new head coach for the 2020 – 2021 NFL season. Joe Judge has no previous head coaching experience, but he is coming from the Bill Belichick coaching tree from out in New England with the Patriots. Judge was a coach with the New England Patriots since 2012, and most recently he was the special teams coordinator as well as the wide receivers coach during the 2019 – 2020 NFL season. Joe Judge is one of the five new coaching hires in the NFL since the end of the 2019 – 2020 NFL regular season.

The New York “Football” Giants have some outstanding young and talented players currently on their roster. Above I mentioned their quarterback Daniel Jones that will be entering his second season this fall, but he will be the primary starter now that Eli Manning has decided to hang up his cleats. Last season Manning only started and played in 4 games. The incredible Saquon Barkley dominated the ground game over the first two years as the Giant’s primary running back.

The wide receivers currently on New York’s roster include Golden Tate, Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard, Cody Latimer, Cody Core, Da’Mari Scott, and David Sills V. Some of those receivers are serviceable, but I think the Giants need to focus on surrounding Daniel Jones with better weapons to throw to. Their tight ends at the moment are Garrett Dickerson as well as Kaden Smith. Look for New York to build up their offensive line and add additional play makers either through the draft, free agency, or trade.

On the defensive side of the ball they have some stand out defenders such as safety Antoine Bethea, linebacker David Mayo, safety Jabrill Peppers, linebacker Alec Ogletree, defensive end Markus Golden, cornerback Deandre Baker, and nose tackle Dalvin Tomlinson. Their defense is average at best so this could be another area of focus to work on for the Giants front office as their build their team moving forward.

Manning's Career NFL Statistics

Regular Season Passing
Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS QBrec Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD TD% Int Int% 1D Lng Y/A AY/A Y/C Y/G Rate QBR Sk Yds NY/A ANY/A Sk% 4QC GWD AV
2004 23 NYG QB 10 9 7 1/6/2000 95 197 48.2 1043 6 3 9 4.6 50 52 5.3 3.8 11 115.9 55.4   13 83 4.57 3.21 6.2 1 1 -1
2005 24 NYG QB 10 16 16 11/5/2000 294 557 52.8 3762 24 4.3 17 3.1 176 78 6.8 6.2 12.8 235.1 75.9   28 184 6.12 5.63 4.8 1 2 14
2006 25 NYG QB 10 16 16 8/8/2000 301 522 57.7 3244 24 4.6 18 3.4 162 55 6.2 5.6 10.8 202.8 77 52.3 25 186 5.59 4.99 4.6 2 2 11
2007 26 NYG QB 10 16 16 10/6/2000 297 529 56.1 3336 23 4.3 20 3.8 167 60 6.3 5.5 11.2 208.5 73.9 54.6 27 217 5.61 4.82 4.9 3 3 10
2008* 27 NYG QB 10 16 16 12/4/2000 289 479 60.3 3238 21 4.4 10 2.1 168 48 6.8 6.7 11.2 202.4 86.4 63.2 27 174 6.06 6 5.3 3 3 12
2009 28 NYG QB 10 16 16 8/8/2000 317 509 62.3 4021 27 5.3 14 2.8 183 74 7.9 7.7 12.7 251.3 93.1 69.8 30 216 7.06 6.89 5.6 1 2 13
2010 29 NYG QB 10 16 16 10/6/2000 339 539 62.9 4002 31 5.8 25 4.6 169 92 7.4 6.5 11.8 250.1 85.3 61.1 16 117 7 6.09 2.9 1 1 12
2011* 30 NYG QB 10 16 16 9/7/2000 359 589 61 4933 29 4.9 16 2.7 218 99 8.4 8.1 13.7 308.3 92.9 64 28 199 7.67 7.45 4.5 5 6 15
2012* 31 NYG QB 10 16 16 9/7/2000 321 536 59.9 3948 26 4.9 15 2.8 187 80 7.4 7.1 12.3 246.8 87.2 67 19 136 6.87 6.59 3.4 3 3 15
2013 32 NYG QB 10 16 16 7/9/2000 317 551 57.5 3818 18 3.3 27 4.9 174 70 6.9 5.4 12 238.6 69.4 39.3 39 281 5.99 4.55 6.6 1 2 7
2014 33 NYG QB 10 16 16 6/10/2000 379 601 63.1 4410 30 5 14 2.3 219 80 7.3 7.3 11.6 275.6 92.1 62.5 28 187 6.71 6.67 4.5 1 1 12
2015* 34 NYG QB 10 16 16 6/10/2000 387 618 62.6 4432 35 5.7 14 2.3 206 87 7.2 7.3 11.5 277 93.6 60.5 27 157 6.63 6.74 4.2 1 2 14
2016 35 NYG QB 10 16 16 11/5/2000 377 598 63 4027 26 4.3 16 2.7 191 75 6.7 6.4 10.7 251.7 86 49.3 21 142 6.28 5.95 3.4 3 6 9
2017 36 NYG QB 10 15 15 3/12/2000 352 571 61.6 3468 19 3.3 13 2.3 172 77 6.1 5.7 9.9 231.2 80.4 45.4 31 189 5.45 5.11 5.1 0 1 7
2018 37 NYG QB 10 16 16 5/11/2000 380 576 66 4299 21 3.6 11 1.9 205 58 7.5 7.3 11.3 268.7 92.4 48.7 47 358 6.33 6.21 7.5 1 2 12
2019 38 NYG QB 10 4 4 1/3/2000 91 147 61.9 1042 6 4.1 5 3.4 47 55 7.1 6.4 11.5 260.5 82.6 29.6 5 44 6.57 5.88 3.3     3
Career         236 234 117-117-0 4895 8119 60.3 57023 366 4.5 244 3 2694 99 7 6.6 11.6 241.6 84.1   411 2870 6.35 5.92 4.8 27 37 165

 

Playoff Passing
Year Age Tm Pos G GS QBrec Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD TD% Int Int% 1D Lng Y/A AY/A Y/C Y/G Rate Sk Yds NY/A ANY/A Sk% 4QC GWD
2005 24 NYG QB 1 1 0-1 10 18 55.6 113 0 0 3 16.7 6 25 6.3 -1.2 11.3 113 35 4 22 4.14 -2 18.2    
2006 25 NYG QB 1 1 0-1 16 27 59.3 161 2 7.4 1 3.7 7 29 6 5.8 10.1 161 85.6 1 7 5.5 5.32 3.6    
2007 26 NYG QB 4 4 Apr-00 72 119 60.5 854 6 5 1 0.8 46 52 7.2 7.8 11.9 213.5 95.7 9 47 6.3 6.89 7 2 3
2008* 27 NYG QB 1 1 0-1 15 29 51.7 169 0 0 2 6.9 7 34 5.8 2.7 11.3 169 40.7 0 0 5.83 2.72 0    
2011* 30 NYG QB 4 4 Apr-00 106 163 65 1219 9 5.5 1 0.6 61 72 7.5 8.3 11.5 304.8 103.3 11 75 6.57 7.35 6.3 2 2
2016 35 NYG QB 1 1 0-1 23 44 52.3 299 1 2.3 1 2.3 12 51 6.8 6.2 13 299 72.1 2 4 6.41 5.87 4.3    
Career       12 12 4-Aug 242 400 60.5 2815 18 4.5 9 2.3 139 72 7 6.9 11.6 234.6 87.4 27 155 6.23 6.12 6.3 4 5

Media Statements

"For 16 seasons, Eli Manning defined what it is to be a New York Giant both on and off the field," says John Mara, the New York Giants president and chief executive officer. "Eli is our only two-time Super Bowl MVP and one of the very best players in our franchise's history. He represented our franchise as a consummate professional with dignity and accountability. It meant something to Eli to be the Giants quarterback, and it meant even more to us. We are beyond grateful for his contributions to our organization and look forward to celebrating his induction into the Giants Ring of Honor in the near future."

"I learned very early that you evaluate quarterbacks on their ability to win championships, and to do it late in a game when the game is on the line, that they're able to take a team down the field and into the end zone to win a title," former New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi stated.

"The second thing is to know that over a period of years, he's always going to be there. Those kinds of quarterbacks always give you a chance to win, and for 16 years, he did that for this franchise. He won championships and he was always there giving us a chance to win. I don't know how you can ask more from a quarterback."

"It was an honor and privilege to coach Eli, and to go through the wonderful and magnificent moments that he and his teammates provided for all of us in the world championship '07-'08 and '11-'12 seasons," says former New York Giants head coach, Tom Coughlin.

"The New York Giants, flagship franchise of the National Football League, have four world championships. You have four trophies sitting there. You have (Phil) Simms, you have (Jeff) Hostetler, and you have Eli for two. Eli Manning not only is the quarterback on those great teams, but he is the MVP of the Super Bowls. He's an incredible big- game performer. You talk about a guy that's great to coach, focused every day, took tremendous pride in preparing, practice, had a great sense of humor, was a cynic in the locker room. But the guys loved him and they loved him for it, and they played for him. The guys that had the opportunity to play with him know what it's like to be with a guy with as much talent, as much grit, as much determination."

Sources:

“Eli Manning retires after 16 NFL seasons”, Jordan Raanan, espn.com, January 22, 2020.

“Eli Manning”, pro-football-reference.com, January 23, 2020.,

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