The power outage that drove Eli Manning from his flooded Hoboken digs to a Manhattan hotel followed him to MetLife Stadium yesterday.
There aren’t many Giants fans who would trade Elite Eli for Big Ben Roethlisberger … except for yesterday.
When Eli Manning looked lost in the dark.
It was Steelers 24, Giants 20, when it ended because Manning could not find a way to overcome either himself or a horrific performance from Tom Coughlin’s special-teams coverage units (68-yard kickoff return, 63-yard punt return).
Manning — and all the Giants — so badly, so nobly, yearned to finish, their enduring mantra, as much for the devastated victims of Sandy as for themselves.
Except this turned out to be one of those rare occasions when you can’t spell F-U-T-I-L-E without an E, an L and an I.
The football gods handed Manning one last chance not to make everything right, because that is impossible now, but one last chance to let the struggling survivors cling to some source of inspiration from a quarterback and a team that has given plenty to this area. He had 3:55 and three timeouts to navigate the 88 yards to Giants 27, Steelers 24.
Manning Time.
Incomplete for Victor Cruz — and not even close.
Incomplete for Martellus Bennett.
Fumble following a sack by LaMarr Woodley that Kevin Boothe recovered.
Manning never saw the ball again. It marked the second straight game Elite Eli had failed to throw a touchdown pass. His last one was the 77-yard bomb to Cruz that beat the Redskins.
He is in a slump, even if he doesn’t think he is. And if he doesn’t figure out how to get his team in the end zone, the 6-3 Giants will be fighting off questions about another second-half swoon.
“I feel like I’m throwing the ball accurately when I have opportunities to,” Manning said.
And: “I don’t feel off rhythm, no. I think, offensively, in the passing game, whether we’re just running things we feel comfortable with or getting guys (receivers) winning again so we get guys open, it’s just a combination of … I don’t feel like I’m throwing the ball inaccurate, I don’t feel like I’m missing guys, so I think it’s just a matter of getting back where offensively we’re playing fast and making good decisions and guys are winning and we’ll hit ’em.”
We’ve all become spoiled by Elite Eli. Just because Hakeem Nicks (four targets, one catch, 10 yards) is still not his explosive self, just because Cruz (5-67) is getting the Me And My Shadow treatment and getting mugged, just because the running game (22-68) is stuck in mud, doesn’t mean the elite quarterback can’t elevate his level of play and overcome.
“I’m sure he would come to tell you that he didn’t play as well as he would like to have played,” Coughlin said. “We have to get him back on track. He’s our guy and we have to get him back playing the way he was a couple of weeks ago and we have to do it in a hurry. And it’s not just Eli now. We’re struggling to get ourselves in position so that it’s an automatic for the quarterback too.”
It’s never entirely the quarterback’s fault. But 10-for-24 for 125 yards and one interception? A 41.1 QB rating? Are you kidding?
“Two weeks ago, we were the No. 1 big-play team in the league,” Coughlin said. “I mean, it doesn’t make any sense.”
Let’s try to make sense of it. Manning threw only once to a running back. He targeted Bennett (3-40) four times. Domenik Hixon (0-0) was targeted once. His best plays were a pair of pass interferences worth a total of 87 yards against Keenan Lewis. The green zone has become the dead zone. On his first possession, Manning tried a back-shoulder throw to rookie Rueben Randle … on third-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 44. Terrible play call. The Ike Taylor interception was a forced heave for Cruz into double coverage.
“Bad decision by me,” Manning said. “Just got hit as I threw it, the ball didn’t come out how I wanted it to. Should have not attempted that throw under the circumstances.”
Three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out in the fourth quarter.
“I’ve kept my regular schedule, tried to stay in a normal routine,” Manning said. “We were prepared to play tonight, we just didn’t play our best.”
Power failure at quarterback.