They broke my heart.
It was a cold, windy day and the play in front of me was disgusting, as we sat inside a barren MetLife Stadium on Nov. 12, watching the Giants beat the Chiefs. That now feels like a Super Bowl win, compared to the rest of this disastrous season.
The Giants took what was left of my fandom and crushed it Tuesday with a Big Blue hammer when they decided to callously bench Eli Manning. For nearly half of my life as a Giants season ticket holder, I have watched No. 10 suit up on Sundays, ugly win or brutal loss. It was never going to be easy to watch Manning exit, but watching it unfold in a business-as-usual story posted on the team’s website with canned quotes from Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese, the true authors of this train wreck, made it extra sickening.
Handing the keys to a bust the Jets — the Jets — deemed unworthy of a spot on their quarterback-depleted roster added to the misery. Manning deserved better. We deserved a proper goodbye at MetLife Stadium.
Manning has always been our quarterback. He has provided amazing moments — two in particular stick out — and some not-so-amazing moments. We could mock the Eli Manning face, but don’t let us see Eagles fans or snarky national writers tweeting about it.
The Giants claim they offered Manning the insulting opportunity to play a half before letting Geno Smith take over. He was too prideful to accept. And that is likely the last memory we’ll have of him with the Giants, holding back tears in a crowded locker room.
That’s not how it should have been. His former teammates seemed to have realized that, nearly tripping over one another to post their shock and anger on social media, disbelieving that the franchise they played for would treat a two-time Super Bowl MVP that way.
They understood what the fans were feeling better than the men running the team did.
For a team that allegedly quit on Manning following its dismal home opener in September, it’s outrageous to think for a second McAdoo, Reese, and hell, even John Mara, can confidently stand behind Smith or rookie Davis Webb, and believe they can accomplish what Manning couldn’t in 2017, a year that spiraled too far out of control for any Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback to keep it together under mounting pressure.
Could Tom Brady handle a Belichick-less season in disarray? Would Aaron Rodgers be able to smile in those State Farm commercials knowing his offense was a step up from the practice squad? Those quarterbacks may never endure what Manning has in this forgettable year. But you can be certain Bob Kraft won’t be taking a page out of Mara’s book when the time comes to announce Brady’s successor.
The golden boy can retire when he pleases, whereas Manning gets shoved through the front door for sloppy Jets seconds.
For the first time in what feels like forever, the Giants have become New York’s three-ring circus, Manning’s legacy as the tent pole for what will be Smith’s main event.