Rashad Jennings Apologizes After Outing Eli Manning for Telling Him Not to Score

After claiming he was told not to score late in the New York Giants' heartbreaking 27-26 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, running back Rashad Jennings apologized for putting quarterback Eli Manning in the middle of a media firestorm.  

According to ESPN.com's Dan Graziano, the 30-year-old back said he was told not to score a touchdown on first or second down in order to run out the clock. Manning subsequently threw an incomplete pass on third down, which gave Dallas enough time to drive for the winning score.

Fingers were originally pointed toward head coach Tom Coughlin, but Manning later took the blame for deterring Jennings from finding paydirt, per Graziano:

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I thought they only had one timeout after the play to Odell (Beckham Jr.), so they might let us score to get the ball back. So I told Rashad, "Go down at the one-inch line and don't score." This did not come from the sideline. I cannot be the one in that situation to inform a back. That's not my decision, in that scenario. I made a mistake.

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Although Manning took full responsibility for what happened, Jennings expressed regret for putting his quarterback in that situation publicly, according to a column he wrote for the New York Post on Wednesday:

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I want to apologize from my heart for the negative light that I unintentionally cast my quarterback and friend Eli Manning in. I continue to have the utmost respect for him, and I have complete trust in his leadership. It is a strange and unwelcome feeling I have that after all these years as a professional football player, I finally get to experience the other side of how words can be misconstrued.

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Jennings also claimed that he didn't mean for his comments to make Manning the subject of criticism:

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I see now how what I said could easily be misunderstood as an expression of resentment. I make no claims to be a perfect communicator. But I also assure that I had no ill will in stating what I did. Yet I admit in retrospect that I should not have shared that information with the world. I chose to do so, and for that choice, I am truly sorry.

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The seventh-year NFL veteran said in the column he also apologized to Coughlin after Manning had already accepted a private apology over the phone:

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As soon as I got word of the headlines, I called Eli, and before I could even begin to apologize, he basically expressed his understanding. Being the humble guy that he is, he wanted us to put this fiasco behind us with no hard feelings so that we could focus on the (Atlanta) Falcons. That is why I am taking this opportunity to more formalize my apology to Eli, the team and the fans.

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Manning responded to the apology later Tuesday, saying "Rashad didn't do anything wrong. We've chatted. We've talked. We're great," according to Art Stapleton of The Record.

Jennings understandably showed some frustration after an extremely disappointing and devastating loss, but he ultimately came to realize that his comments in the heat of the moment suggested to the public that there is dysfunction within the team's ranks. Graziano was quick to weigh in on Jennings' public apology:

There is no question that Manning made an error by essentially preventing his running back from sealing the game; however, that should be handled in-house.

Jennings rectified the situation as best he could by owning up to his mistake, which should allow the G-Men to block out the outside noise and put all of their energy into bouncing back in Week 2.

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