Eli Manning Injury A New York Giant Mishap

Manning Gets Cut, Just Not In the Same Way As Other Players This Time Of Year

It’s the second quarter and the red numbers 10:45 show up on the scoreboard in the inaugural game in the New Meadowlands Stadium.  The Giants are down 10-7 to the in-state rival Jets. The pigskin sits inside the red-zone on the Jets’ five-yard line.

Star quarterback Eli Manning takes the snap on third and one hoping for the touchdown that would give his team the lead. But instead, he runs into Brandon Jacobs, his own running back.

Manning’s helmet is jarred loose by Jacobs and then knocked off by Jets linebacker Calvin Pace. But the punishment is not yet done for Manning who then falls into Jim Leonhard’s facemask.

Blood spews forth from the three-inch gash on his temple, an injury that would take 12 stitches to clean up.

This is football. Freak injuries and accidents happen. It’s just part of the game. 

But that said, this was a preseason game, and the first preseason game at that. Players usually take the second, third, and fourth quarters of that game off when they’re good enough to start during the regular season. Especially established players like Manning.

Can you imagine the uproar if he had been more seriously injured and Jim Sorgi was thrust into the starting lineup?

It’s not like the Giants have a great quarterback waiting to take Manning’s spot. Sorgi is a career Manning backup, having spent most of his career holding the clipboard behind Peyton Manning on the depth chart.

What was Tom Coughlin thinking when he sent Eli back out onto the field against a Darelle Revis-less Jets squad in the second quarter? Manning was already 4-8 for 77 yards. He’d gotten his work in.

Fortunately for the head coach, Manning was well enough to speak to reporters after the game and took blame for the injury.

He said “I feel fine. I feel normal. The play was my fault. We had a run play with an option to throw a fade that I thought I might try, but Brandon was coming right up the middle.

“Sometimes you make a mistake and you get hit in the head. It’s preseason. You learn from it. I’ll be back as soon as I can. It’s not really an injury. Nothing serious. I really feel like I could go back out and play right now if I had to."

Giant Implications Around The League

Football is violent, there’s no secret there. Whether it’s a preseason game, a regular season game, or a playoff game, the players on opposing teams are trying to inflict punishment on each other.

How many times have we seen hard hits force players to the sidelines and locker rooms? How many times have we seen accidents create the same results?

This injury to Eli Manning should force coaches to take notice of the unpredictability of the NFL Preseason.

When a coach leaves his starters in for a long time, they stop playing against other established players and begin working against new players who are intent on proving they belong.

Sure, Manning was hurt by the non-malicious actions of two starting players on the Jets, but that’s beside the point. He was playing in the second quarter of the first preseason game at a time when not every starter for the Jets was on the field.

Had this been the third game of the preseason, Coughlin would have had a reason to keep him in. The third game is the traditional game for completely preparing starters for the rigors of the regular season.

Was Coughlin Actually At Fault?

Quite simply, the answer is yes.

Some people may defend Coughlin by saying that it was only fair to leave Manning in the game so that he would have the opportunity to complete the drive he began in the first quarter.

Truthfully, he shouldn’t have started a drive with only 0:13 left in the first quarter. 

Coughlin considers Manning a franchise quarterback, someone who can lead them to the promised land of a Super Bowl title. Isn’t it time to start treating him like one?

Tom Brady left his first preseason game this season with 4:37 left in the first quarter.  Tony Romo was done with 2:29 left in the first quarter.  Matt Ryan with 3:38, Philip Rivers with 5:09.

Eli’s older brother played only two series in his game and exited with 6:31 left in the first quarter.

If Coughlin wants to think of the younger Manning as a quarterback of similar skills to the others mentioned, it’s time to start protecting him like one.

The league has been shifting towards a quarterback-friendly league. Rules are changing to protect quarterbacks during the season. 

Shouldn’t coaches do the same?