Eli Manning might want to do himself a favor today and ask to borrow Tom Brady’s thesaurus so he can look up the meaning of the word “Elite.”
It isn’t so much that the Jets’ Mark Sanchez, struggling as he did for much of the first half of last night’s ForgetLife Bowl, looked like the better quarterback that should alarm fans of the New York Football Giants. All Sanchez had was a 17-yard TD pass to Santonio Holmes against Corey Webster.
It’s that Manning looked as if he were playing in a hurricane during Jets 17, Giants 3.
It’s that Manning — with no apologies necessary to Rex Ryan — looked like Sanchez’s little brother.
It’s that Manning looked as far from Elite as you can get.
He looked E-lousy.
It is preseason, of course, and Manning has a long history of resilience and that Super Bowl MVP trophy, but it cannot be dismissed that he doesn’t have tight end Kevin Boss anymore and he doesn’t have receiver Steve Smith anymore. It cannot be dismissed that he hasn’t thrown a single touchdown pass in preseason.
“No one ever counts how many touchdown passes you throw in preseason,” Manning said.
What, Eli worry?
“No, I’m not concerned,” he said. “I thought tonight we did some good things.”
Maybe when the juices get flowing for the Redskins on 9/11, when he has time to home in on the game plan as only he can, when he has Ahmad Bradshaw (who looked at his elusive best in limited playing time), from the beginning, it will be an entirely different story, and he will be an entirely different quarterback.
But in the meantime, he looks more E-lost than Elite.
Under pressure on the first series from David Harris, Manning threw high for Victor Cruz and had it intercepted by Jim Leonhard.
“It looks like the ball may have floated on me a little bit,” Manning said.
Manning assured everyone at the end of 2010 that he was not a 25-interception quarterback.
“I would prefer him throw the ball away,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “It’s easier said than done.”
Then Manning missed Cruz on third-and-6 at the Jets 34.
“I just put a little bit too much mustard on it,” Manning said.
Then, early in the second quarter, Manning looked left downfield for Bradshaw, only to launch, while backpedaling, an underthrow that was picked off by Harris.
“He undercut it, musta seen me throwing it, and played the ball well,” Manning said.
Later in the first half, after Mario Manningham had streaked open downfield, Manning overthrew him, and stood there, hands on hips. Earlier, he had short-armed a throw that landed at Manningham’s feet.
On third down in the red zone, Manning targeted Travis Beckum, who is being counted on to step up and fill the void left by Boss, but the pass was broken up by safety Eric Smith, a violent hitter who doesn’t exactly remind anyone of Troy Polamalu or Ed Reed in coverage.
Manning’s best moment came when he put an arm around Brandon Jacobs and escorted him to the sidelines after Jacobs and Muhammad Wilkerson had been ejected for their bragging-rights skirmish midway through the third quarter. Three plays later, third-and-goal at the 6 and with Jamaal Westerman in his face, Manning found Cruz, against Marquice Cole, at the 1. D.J. Ware was stuffed inches from the goal line by the second-team, Jets.
“There’s just enough things that are keeping us from finishing drives and putting points on the board,” Manning said.
You would think Manning (15-30, 200 yards, no TDs, two INTs), as much as anyone, would be able to withstand the preparatory nightmare caused by the NFL lockout. Then again, he has a remodeled offensive line. It doesn’t excuse a third-and-6 delay-of-game penalty from the Jets’ 34 that forced Coughlin to punt.
“I don’t have any concerns about him at all,” Hakeem Nicks said. “With time everything’s gonna come.”
So Manning still doesn’t have a reliable third receiver, or a reliable tight end option and is on the same page only with Nicks.
He can find some cover with Coughlin’s displeasure with the special teams — Devin Thomas muffed a kickoff return out of bounds, Jerrel Jernigan muffed a punt return out of bounds, Cromartie returned a kickoff 70 yards and Jarron Gilbert blocked a field goal.
Manning is unlikely to play Thursday night against the Patriots. The regular season is 12 days away.
Elite?
Egads.