Manning must play better for Giants to have shot vs. Jags

By Andy Targovnik  |   Friday, November 17, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

New York Giants
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Besides losing left tackle Luke Petitgout for the season, perhaps the most distressing thing about the New York Giants' loss to the Chicago Bears last Sunday night was Eli Manning's poor performance.

Manning hadn't played that badly since the Giants got their heads handed to them by the Carolina Panthers in last year's playoffs. Against the Bears, he threw for 121 yards, two interceptions and an abysmal quarterback rating of 28.3.

Granted, anybody can have a bad game. But the third-year pro from Ole Miss has not played well in the Giants' last four contests. In those games, Manning has thrown six touchdowns while tossing six picks.

But it really got ugly against Chicago. To start, it looked like Manning forgot that Jeremy Shockey was on the field. Shockey, who is a tremendous weapon, only caught one ball for 15 yards. And he barely even looked at Amani Toomer's replacement, Tim Carter, at all.

Instead, he appeared to have tunnel vision on Plaxico Burress throughout the game, and used him as a security blanket. All too often, Manning chucked it up for grabs in Burress's direction, hoping he would come down with the ball.

And the problem that Peyton's younger brother has had intermittently throughout his Giants career reared its ugly head once again: He was inaccurate - very inaccurate. He was 14 for 32, to be precise.

In the first quarter, on a third-and-5 on the Bears' 15-yard line, Manning dropped back to pass and had Burress wide open at the 5-yard line, but overthrew him. Jay Feely then promptly missed a 33-yard field goal. So instead of getting a first down and probably scoring a touchdown, the Giants came up empty. His imprecision got worse during the game, throwing behind receivers, too high and too low - all too often.

Again, the Bears' defense can definitely shake anybody up. But the Giants' opponent this week, the Jacksonville Jaguars, are not much worse on the defensive side of the ball - especially at home. The Jags really have no weaknesses on defense. They only give up 3.6 yards a carry, 180 yards a game passing, have 12 interceptions and have only allowed eight touchdowns in the air.

With the Giants losing Petitgout on the left side of the offensive line, and the right side having to contend with Jacksonville's left defensive end, Bobby McCray, who has six sacks, Manning will certainly be under pressure when he drops back. So when the opportunity presents itself, he must execute. That means spreading the ball around and hitting his receivers in their numbers instead of anywhere but.

To be fair, Manning is still learning, but he's certainly no rookie. While he will still make mistakes, he's got to avoid games like he had against the Bears. And traveling into Jacksonville won't be an easy place to start.
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