Giants must move slowly with Manning

By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
August 19, 2004
It's official. Eli Manning will be the New York Giants' starting quarterback tonight in their preseason game against the Carolina Panthers.
I hope it's Eli's last start for a while.
Don't get me wrong. I'm rooting for Eli, just like I root for any Mississippian who makes good in the NFL. And I'm not trying to say that he's not talented enough, not mentally prepared, or whatever. Manning is immensely talented, and he's one of the most mentally unshakable quarterbacks I've ever seen.
But he's not ready.
Few rookies are.
I could count the number of successful rookie quarterbacks of my lifetime on one hand. One of them is Eli's older brother, Peyton, who had a fantastic rookie season with the Indianapolis Colts. He passed for more than 3,700 yards and tossed a rookie-record 26 touchdown passes in 1998. But he still threw 28 interceptions.
And for every rookie quarterback who succeeds, there are 10 more like David Carr or Ryan Leaf who spent four months getting their bodies and egos battered.
The old Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans, of course) had the right idea when they drafted Alcorn State product Steve McNair in 1995. McNair spent his first two seasons at the bottom of the quarterback food chain in Houston, backing up Chris Chandler.
Chandler had two moderately productive seasons as McNair's tutor, but even when Chandler wasn't successful, the Oilers didn't panic. They brought McNair along slowly sometimes too slowly, if you asked their fans, who called the future All-Pro "Steve McMillionaire" but the team never scrapped its plan.
Finally, in 1997, when the Oilers moved to Tennessee, McNair was given the starting job, and he flourished. Today, McNair is the co-MVP of the NFL after passing for 3,000 yards in three straight years and completing more than 60 percent of his passes for four straight years. Barring a major injury, McNair is a future Hall of Famer.
McNair's consistent success is due in large part, I believe, to the fact that he was brought along so slowly. And I think he'd recommend the Giants do the same with Eli.
Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe would probably suggest that course of action as well. Cutcliffe kept Eli on the sidelines as a redshirt freshman in 2000, when every week, 50,000 Rebels fans energetically insisted (screamed like maniacs at the top of their lungs) that Cutcliffe put Eli on the field.
Cutcliffe stuck to his guns, though, and didn't start Manning until his sophomore year. You can hardly argue with the results.
Giants head coach Tom Coughlin may have the toughest time holding Manning back, though. During McNair's two seasons as a reservist, his team was a combined 15-17. Not good, but not horrible. And during Manning's freshman season at Ole Miss, the Rebels were a respectable 7-5.
New York is nowhere near that good. The Giants are coming off a 4-12 season in which they scored the third-least points of any team in the NFL. New York scored 10 or fewer points seven times in 2003. The team has problems that no quarterback alone can solve.
Kurt Warner, a two-time MVP whom the Giants signed during the offseason, will almost certainly be the team's starting quarterback when the regular season begins. Even though Warner hasn't been even moderately successful since 2001, his experience will set him apart from his rookie understudy.
At least, it will in the beginning. Warner is soft. It's only a matter of time before he melts down again, as he did last year in a turnover-plagued Week 1.
I don't expect Warner to finish the season as the starting quarterback. Coughlin probably doesn't either. If Warner can just buy Manning eight or nine weeks, that would be immensely helpful. It would give Eli two more months to learn, and it would save him half a season's worth of bruises.
The Giants are likely headed for another rough season, regardless of whether Manning or Warner is the starting quarterback. But Warner's experience and, frankly, his expendability make him the more qualified starter.
The only thing that Eli could do to deserve the starting job is to prove that he makes the Giants a winning team.
One day he will.
For now, though, he doesn't.