WHERE’D HE COME FROM? Eli Manning, who threw no touchdowns and two interceptions, loses control of the ball after being hit by Wallace Gilberry during the second half of the Giants’ embarrassing 31-13 loss to the Bengals yesterday in Cincinnati. (
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CINCINNATI — Eli Manning has dramatically and inexplicably stopped playing like an elite quarterback. And on days when he becomes an E-liability, he doesn’t carry the Giants on his shoulders, he drags them down into the sinkhole of yet another second-half swoon.
Manning refutes media speculation he has a tired arm, but apparently he has grown tired of throwing touchdown passes, because he didn’t throw one against the Cowboys, didn’t throw one against the Steelers, didn’t throw one yesterday against the Bengals, if for no other reason than Victor Cruz dropped what should have been a 38-yard touchdown. Manning hadn’t gone three games without a touchdown pass since his rookie season.
“Same exact person, nothing’s really changed,” Cruz said after Bengals 31, Giants 13.
Except for the fact Manning is not the same exact quarterback. He threw two ghastly interceptions yesterday, and lost one fumble. It means that during his three-game slump, he has thrown four picks and lost two fumbles. His QB rating the last two games: 41.1, 56.
Everyone around the Giants expects Manning to bounce back — I do as well, given his resume and pedigree — but in the meantime, everyone is bewitched, bothered and bewildered, and no one more than the quarterback.
The Giants abandoned the running game early (6-for-16 rushing at intermission), and Manning, hounded in the pocket (four sacks), could not play small ball against a defense that suffocated his vertical game and had no reason to fear the play-action game.
“That’s what we saw on film, that if you get a lot of pressure in Manning’s face, he tends to short-arm some throws and just throw the ball up in the air,” defensive tackle Domata Peko said.
It was already 17-6 and Ahmad Bradshaw had just fumbled away an opportunity at the Bengals 14 when Manning, first down at his 18, became an E-liability. Geno Atkins pulled at Manning’s jersey from behind, and panic set in for the two-time Super Bowl MVP, who inadvisably tried to throw the ball away. Michael Johnson deflected it, and Pat Sims intercepted it, and soon it was 24-6.
“A mistake on my part,” Manning said. “I know better than to do that, but sometimes you get in the moment, and made a bad decision, so I got to make sure I’m not doing that, putting our team in a bad situation.”
On the next series, he stepped up in the pocket under duress from Atkins and was picked off by Nate Clements, and soon it was 31-6.
The argument against a tired arm was the accurate long-range missile he threw to Cruz on the first play of the fourth quarter, and shorter darts to Hakeem Nicks.
The argument that he might have a tired arm but will never air it out in public because it would sound like an excuse rests on the 364 passes he has thrown this season … on the heels of the 752 passes (163 in the playoffs) he threw last season.
“If my arm were tired, I would tell the coaches, and we would shut down some throws, or throw a little bit less,” Manning said. “I don’t feel like we’re overthrowing. I feel like when I’m making throws, the ball’s coming out well, so I don’t see anything into it.”
But if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and throws ducks, coach Tom Coughlin will be concerned.
“I certainly would ask him about that … probably over the last couple of weeks I’ve asked him how he feels, and he always responds he feels good,” Coughlin said.
Cruz, who must feel like America’s Most Wanted when he runs his routes, was targeted only once in the first half. Asked if the double coverage contributed to it, Cruz said: “Couldn’t tell you.”
Cruz finished with four targets, 10 fewer than Nicks, whose 16-yard reception in the first half was Manning’s longest completion. “I think there were times when, perhaps the protection was good, and we were holding the ball it seemed like a little bit longer, whether or not there was people open or whatever the reason was, I’m not going to speculate right now until I see the tape,” Coughlin said.
This quarterback and this team needs the bye in the worst way.
Manning: “I got to start playing better.”
Manning: “We can fix it.”
Coughlin: “I still believe that Eli will bounce back, and he will play the way that he has played — at a championship level.” But then he added: “I certainly don’t quite understand where we are and why.”
They won’t be anywhere if the elite quarterback is an E-liability.