Eli Manning Will Have To Make Do With What He's Got

For such an easy going laid back guy, Eli Manning is a meticulous creature of habit when it comes to his receiving core.

Like a dog just brought home from a rescue center (no offense towards Manning’s week 15 opponent), Manning takes some time to get adjusted to his new surroundings.

It took Manning some time to become comfortable with Plaxico Burress in 2005-2007.

After Plaxico left, or more accurately was forced to leave by the United States legal system, it took manning a couple of years to get comfortable with his new young receiving core.  

Once Manning becomes comfortable, he can be deadly with the pigskin.  But it seems to take Manning a little longer than most to get to that point.

Burress was his go-to guy throughout the Giants’ miraculous 2007 playoff run, and for the past two years, Steve Smith has been Manning’s comfort blanket on just about every third and long play.

As we all know, Burress is gone and he ain’t coming back, and now Smith is gone for the season as well.  Add in a banged up Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham and Manning once again finds himself in unfamiliar territory.

Manning has looked lost for the past few weeks while Smith and Nicks where out with injuries, and he continued to look lost for most of Monday night’s game against the Vikings while Smith and Nicks were back on the field, but not nearly at 100%.

The Giants’ defense is strong and the running game has really taken off in recent weeks as a matter of necessity.

Plain and simple, if the Giants have any hope of beating the Eagles on Sunday afternoon and making any kind of noise during the playoffs, Manning has to make do with what he’s got.  

There are quarterbacks in the league that can make do with just about anyone that throws on a pair of sticky receiver’s gloves.

Now Manning has got to do the same.

The Giants have been plugging holes with bubble gum for most of the second half of the season, and Manning has looked like a deer in headlights during this time.  

But for the Giants’ sake, he better become really comfortable really quickly, as the receiving core he will head into battle with on Sunday will likely be all he’s got for the remainder of the 2010 season.