Going 0-3 versus your brother is bad, going 0-2 to start a season is worse.
That is the potential situation Eli Manning and the Giants face when Peyton leads his Broncos into MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Though big brother shined with seven touchdowns in Denver’s rout over Baltimore, Eli threw three interceptions that led to the Giants’ season-opening 36-31 loss to the Cowboys in Dallas.
“Obviously the turnovers are what bothered me a little bit and when you look at the interceptions, quite frankly, I put all of them on Eli,” CBS analyst and former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon said.
“If you are a veteran quarterback, you can’t do that, you have to see DeMarcus Ware on that screen play, you can’t blame Da’Rel Scott because the throw was a little off and you can’t allow someone else’s mistake to become your mistake.”
But there were some miscues Eli had nothing to do with. Starting running back David Wilson fumbled on two of his seven touches, forcing coach Tom Coughlin to bench his only legitimate running back and the team to bring back veteran Brandon Jacobs this week. The lack of a trusted running threat could intensify the need for Eli to match touchdowns with Peyton, who had some pressure taken off him by the Broncos’ new three-pronged rushing attack of Knowshon Moreno, Ronnie Hillman and rookie Montee Ball.
“It’s not good because in order for them to be who they want to be they need that balance, and they need some production on the ground,” said Gannon, one of the analysts for CBS Sports Network’s “NFL Monday QB.”
“When you look at that division, look at how the weather can change in November and December, and what Tom Coughlin wants to be as a football team: tough, physical, get after you and challenge you. And right now, they don’t have that guy back there.
“I talked to a couple of Cowboys guys, and they said that all [defensive coordinator] Monte Kiffin talked about all week was when 22 gets the ball he holds it loose, he’s had fumbling issues. Then unfortunately when you do that, the next time you’ll just have more guys ripping at the ball because they are going for it. He’s got to show people that he’s not going to put it on the ground.”
The excitement of the Manning-Manning showdown quickly could be replaced by dread if the Giants don’t win their home-opener, which will be followed by tricky road games in Carolina and Kansas City.
“Starting 0-2 is tough,” Gannon said. “That’s not easy when you are talking about walking around the facility knowing how rough it’s going to be. It can make it unbearable, players start feeling it in the meeting rooms, the practice field, no matter how good you think you are.”