Giant Hype as Eli Takes Center Stage
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Who would have thought Michael Vick would be the second-most-hyped quarterback in a football game?
That will be the case this Sunday, when the death-spiraling Giants meet the high-flying Falcons at the Meadowlands, a game that will be overshadowed by a player who has yet to throw a touchdown pass, yet to lead a scoring drive, yet to do anything, in fact, other than be born into the right family of quarterbacks.
The pro debut of Eli Manning as a starting quarterback, necessitated by head coach Tom Coughlin’s desire to do something to halt his team’s free-fall, makes this game the most anticipated regular-season Giants game in more than a quarter-century.
On September 30, 1979, Phil Simms – who had been booed on draft day by a crowd of Giants fans clamoring for Jack Thompson, the Throwin’ Samoan – was cheered as a savior. Simms, a rookie quarterback, was tapped in the second quarter of a game against the New Orleans Saints by head coach Ray Perkins to replace Paterson Plank Joe Pisarcik in a desperate attempt to halt the bleeding from an 0-4 start.
Simms couldn’t pull it off that day – the Giants went on to lose, 24-14, despite a late TD pass by the rookie from Morehead State. Although it would take a solid four years before the job was Simms’s alone, he did lead them to six wins in their last 11 games of that 1979 season. (As a juicy aside, the Saints’ quarterback that day was none other than Archie Manning, the greatest sire since Bold Ruler).
Now, the Giants turn to Archie’s youngest son, Eli Manning, in a desperate attempt to save a season that began well but is now rapidly slipping away from them. Eli, you might recall, was cheered on draft day when it was announced the Giants would trade away a truckload of picks in order to snatch him away from the San Diego Chargers.
So what can Eli Manning do that Kurt Warner could not while operating behind that curtain of Swiss cheese that passes for the Giants’ offensive line?
“Well, I don’t really know what I can do differently,” Manning acknowledged on Monday, a few hours after learning that the destiny of the 2004 Giants now lay in his hands. “Obviously, the reason for these last couple of losses wasn’t Kurt’s fault. You can’t do anything when you’re getting sacked six times in a game.”
For the record, the Falcons committed even more mayhem last week than the Arizona Cardinals did on Warner, sacking Tampa Bay’s Brian Griese, son of former Dolphins’ great Bob Griese, seven times. (See, there are omens everywhere for this game, none of them good).
The truth is, Warner was not playing well, holding the ball too long sometimes, getting rid of it too hastily at others, and generally playing like a man in a panic, which is wont to happen when you are continually running for your life. He didn’t seem comfortable running John Hufnagel’s offense, didn’t seem to make the right reads, didn’t seem capable of being the one thing a successful quarterback must be, which is decisive.
But it is equally true that the Giants’ offensive line doesn’t afford a quarterback much opportunity to do any of those things. Making matters worse, they look likely to be without starting center Shaun O’Hara on Sunday. So if being a rookie behind a porous O-line wasn’t a tough enough assignment, odds are in his first pro start, Eli Manning will be taking snaps from a backup. Wayne Lucier.
Manning claims not to be fazed by any of this, which is an encouraging sign for Giants fans.
“I’m excited,” he said. “This is the reason I play football. This is the reason I was brought to New York. I can’t wait to get out there.”
“Now, it’s just about me going in there and making good decisions, me getting rid of the ball quickly, getting it into the hands of the athletes, getting it to Amani [Toomer] and Tiki [Barber] and Ike [Hilliard] and [Jeremy] Shockey, because they’re the ones who can make the plays with the ball, not me.”
According to Manning, the Giants’ offense, when operating correctly, bears close resemblance to the one he ran at Ole Miss – short drops, quick passes, move the sticks. But they don’t hit in the SEC the way they do in the NFL, as Manning found out in mop-up duty late in the Giants Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, when Jerome McDougle mopped the turf with him as he let go of a pass.
Since then, Manning has been treated by Coughlin as if he were made of fine crystal. He has seen game action only once, when he was sent in to hand the ball off six times in the closing moments of the Giants’ 34-13 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, the highlight of their season so far.
Starting Sunday, Manning will no longer be treated like fine crystal, by the Giants nor their opponents. Nor will he be regarded as a rookie by his teammates or their fans. Now, he is their starting quarterback, highly paid and finely bred, a man expected not to learn on the job, but to win.
“Everything happens so fast in this league,” Manning said.
For the Giants and their fans, this day has been a long time coming, 25 years to be exact. For them, it couldn’t come fast enough.
Mr. Matthews is the host of the “Wally and the Keeg” sports talk show, heard Monday-Friday from 4-7 p.m. on 1050 AM ESPN radio.