CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At a time when most of the rest of the league is setting records and making a mockery of defense, Eli Manning’s Giants appear to be operating at the bottom of Mount Everest, waging the mother of all uphill battles to even find the end zone.
There are young gunslingers taking the league by storm — Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City and Jared Goff in Los Angeles, to name a couple — and even old gunslingers — Drew Brees in New Orleans and Tom Brady in New England, to name a couple.
And Manning and the Giants have long forgotten how to score 30 lousy points. And Odell Beckham Jr. is wasting his time going deep and can’t get in the end zone.
It is maddening and mind-boggling, and it is not what was promised.
The quarterback is smarter than he is immobile, head coach Pat Shurmur is a play-calling guru and quarterback whisperer, Beckham is an otherworldly talent, and Saquon Barkley was fitted for a gold jacket the night he was drafted. And Sterling Shepard does Victor Cruz things, minus the salsa.
This should be a machine, an X-and-O symphony.
It has been a sorry illustration of Murphy’s Law.
More alarmingly, Manning’s Law, when you are afraid to make a mistake because the risk is not worth the reward.
Which is all fine and dandy only when you are winning.
It is time for Manning to find the nerve to take downfield shots, even behind a rebuilt offensive line that has struggled to give him comfort in the pocket. At what point does a career-high completion mark translate into fireworks? Can he make the big throw at the right time?
What is keeping Beckham from taking a slant to the house? If Antonio Brown has three touchdowns, why is Beckham still looking for his first?
How come they can’t throw the ball for more than 20 yards?
Everyone sees what Beckham sees. And doesn’t see. And must see.
With those fresh quads, how about getting Barkley 25 touches through land and air if only to loosen everything up for Beckham and Sterling and giving Manning some much-needed balance?
Forcing Manning to matriculate the ball down the field will work most of the time, even when:
Manning misses an open receiver.
Or one of his offensive linemen contracts Flowersitis and is flagged for holding or offsides, and Manning for this reason or that reason is unable to overcome operating behind the chains.
So on and so forth.
“When they’re running slants and running in-breaking routes and running deep over routes and those types of things, if you can get to those throws and hit guys on the move, they can turn those throws into big plays,” Manning said.
The Giants are averaging 18.3 points per game. You get the feeling Chiefs phenom Pat Mahomes (36.3 ppg) can do that throwing left-handed. Beckham’s longest catch is 30 yards.
“A quarterback’s job is to do three things: throw it to the right guy, get the ball there on time and get the ball there accurately,” Offensive coordinator Mike Shula said. “Whether or not that guy is 20 yards down the field or 5 yards down the field, just keep the chains moving forward, and then we feel like if we do that and stay on the field, with our athletes, we’re going to get the ball in the end zone.”
Except the Giants haven’t gotten the ball in the end zone. Except for one game.
“We got to finish drives. We got to get the ball in the end zone, however we get it in the end zone,” Shula said.
It takes time for an offensive line to jell. Except Manning and the Giants don’t have the time. They don’t have the luxury of any excuses, either.
Football isn’t rocket science. It only seems as if it for the Giants’ offense. Manning has gone 36 games now without scoring 30 points. He’s playing better than he did last year with Ben McAdoo. He has to play better. Because it still isn’t good enough.
“It’s all about scoring points,” Shula said.
Even after all these years, the Giants cannot spell “believe” without the letters E-L-I. They didn’t draft the Next Eli Manning in large part because they entrusted this Eli Manning to chase another championship. He better start chasing it.
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