Giants Preview: Which Eli Manning Will Show Up In 2008?

Was Eli Manning’s near flawless performance in the postseason a fluke or has Eli Manning finally realized his full potential?

The answer to that question will likely determine the Giants 2008 season and Manning’s career.

How quickly we New Yorkers forget, myself included.

During the second half of the 2007 season, I was one of the masses calling for Eli to be run out of town. 

Half way through the playoff I was referring to Manning as ‘Eli The Great’. 

The fact of the matter is that no matter how well Manning performed throughout the playoffs and right on through the Super Bowl, he had yet another below average season in 2007.
In the 2007 regular season, Manning threw a league worst 20 interceptions and completed just 56% of his passes.

He also continued to show a concerning level of immaturity through some mindboggling bad decisions at the most crucial moments.

If the Giants had lost in the first round of the playoffs or had gotten demolished by the Cowboys in the second round, as many had predicted, Giants fans would be chasing Manning down with their pitchforks.

But that wasn’t the case, the Giants and particularly Eli Manning caught fire in the postseason which carried right on through arguably the most stunning upset in the history of the game.
In the 2007 postseason, Manning through 6 touchdown passes with only one interception.

He completed over 60% of his passes and projected a level of maturity and leadership that had us confusing Eli with his older, more accomplished brother Payton.

Now, as we are sitting just three weeks away from the start of the 2008 season, which Eli will we see this year? 

Will see the ‘Eli The Terrible’ we saw for most of the 2007 regular season or will the ‘Eli The Great’ that we saw in the 2007 postseason? 

Once again, the Giants’ season and Manning’s career very much depend on which Eli Manning shows up for the 2008 season.

Lets be practical here; Eli Manning has about three weeks to show Giants fans at least a glimpse of the Eli we saw during the 2007 postseason, otherwise he will once again find himself running from any angry pack of Giants fans armed with their pitchforks.