Finally, after all the ineptitude, alarm bells ringing all across Big Blue Nation, panic buttons being pressed, Eli Manning looked as if he had a clue, if not a pulse.
ELife.
And Manning, coach Tom Coughlin and offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo couldn’t care less the Giants’ first flicker of hope came against a depleted Jets secondary that featured a stopgap emergency cornerback named LeQuan Lewis, who had replaced Antonio Allen, who two weeks ago was a safety.
Manning, with rare protection, began slinging the ball all over the lot in the two-minute drill at the end of the first half to Jerrel Jernigan underneath, then downfield twice to Victor Cruz, then to Rueben Randle for the 15-yard touchdown pass against Lewis.
Manning, stepping into his throws at last and firing darts, was 7-for-10 on the 11-play, 91-yard drive for 79 yards. He finished 12-for-21 for 139 yards and a 93.2 rating.
Coughlin took the ball from Manning, in desperate need of positive reinforcement, and handed it to blossoming Ryan Nassib at the start of the second half of the Giants’ 35-24 Snoopy Bowl victory over the Jets, even though Manning and the first-team offense could use more work and will indeed get a series or two in the fifth and final preseason game Thursday against the Patriots.
“We finally got in a pretty good rhythm, everything just worked instead of always having something go wrong,” Manning said.
If nothing else, it allowed Manning and his West Coast offense to cling to the belief his night was not half-bad.
“It’s definitely a sign of progress,” Manning said.
Baby steps are better than no steps at all, right?
“It’s not where it needs to be,” Manning said. “It’ll be better and better as things go on, and better next week, and better for that opening game.”
And then Manning added a sobering reminder there are miles to go before he or anyone else on offense sleeps.
“It’s not going to be complete at that point, we’re going to have to keep making improvements throughout the whole season,” Manning said.
Until the touchdown drive, if you had been looking for signs of progress, you wondered if you would be left with this: Manning finding long-lost stranger Cruz on the first play from scrimmage for 9 yards, and getting an interference call against Kyle Wilson the next time he targeted Cruz.
Oh, and this: He finally completed a pass longer than 10 yards.
Bring on the Lions! The Columbia Lions.
The most telling evidence that Eli is not yet Eli came on the first series when he underthrew Randle streaking deep down the left side ahead of Antonio Allen.
“I could have stepped into that a little bit better,” Manning said.
More telling evidence unfolded on his second possession when he failed to get enough mustard on a sideline throw for Randle that easily could have been intercepted by Darrin Walls. It would have been a pick six against Darrelle Revis.
Manning temporarily interrupted his malaise when he rolled right and got 26 yards on a back-shoulder throw to Randle against Walls. The drive fizzled when Jason Babin forced a Manning fumble that Geoff Schwartz recovered.
If there is a high percentage pass in the playbook for Manning, it’s the screen or checkdown to hard-running Rashad Jennings. A welcome 7 yards on first down. Manning passed on passing on third-and-2 and Jennings burst around right end for 23 yards. And then it was time for the inevitable rush of dysfunction: Following a first-down holding penalty against tight end Larry Donnell, Muhammad Wilkerson snorted past Schwartz and flushed Manning out of the pocket, leaving the beleaguered quarterback with no choice but to whip it harmlessly into the ground.
“Way too many touches on the QB,” Will Beatty said.
Manning’s fifth series: flushed right, he throws the ball away … scrambling for his life with Schwartz (toe) gone for the evening, with rampaging Wilkerson in hot pursuit, Crazylegs is caught from behind by the big fella and fumbles out of bounds.
“He reestablished himself as a tough customer tonight,” Coughlin said.
With Schwartz KOed with a dislocated toe, he’ll have to again until the offensive line rallies, or finds a less daunting challenge than the Jets’ front seven.
Manning’s sixth and final series: he rolls right and tries an ill-advised sideline throw for Cruz into double coverage that was ruled an incompletion only because Wilson had stepped out of bounds before intercepting the pass.
“Just throw it out of bounds and go on to the next play,” Manning said.
Then, ELife, at last.