End of the Eli Manning Era as Giants Bench QB for Rookie Daniel Jones
Will Eli Manning be a clipboard holder for the next 14 games?
Jones is Shurmur's guy. The clock is now ticking on the Gettleman/Shurmur era
By Scott Mandel
| From the moment he was drafted in April, it was inevitable that Daniel Jones would one day succeed Eli Manning as the Giants’ starting quarterback. That day has come, two games into Jones’ rookie season. Coach Pat Shurmur announced today that Jones will make his first career start on Sunday, when the 0-2 Giants face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Raymond James Stadium. “Eli and I spoke this morning,” Shurmur said. “I told him that we are making a change and going with Daniel as the starter. I also talked to Daniel. Eli was obviously disappointed, as you would expect, but he said he would be what he has always been, a good teammate, and continue to prepare to help this team win games. Daniel understands the challenge at hand, and he will be ready to play on Sunday.” Manning started the season’s first two contests – losses at Dallas and Sunday at home to Buffalo. He completed 56 of 89 passes for 556 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for a passer rating of 78.7. But the Giants have scored only four touchdowns, despite averaging 420.0 yards a game. At his news conference yesterday, Shurmur said he was “going to address all areas” and declined to say if Manning would start on Sunday. “Ultimately, this is a move that I felt was best for this team at this time,” Shurmur said. “I have said it since I got here, I am very fond of Eli. His work ethic, his preparation, his football intelligence. All those attributes are as good as I have ever seen in a player. And Eli worked as hard as you could ask of anybody to get ready for this season. This move is more about Daniel moving forward than about Eli.” Jones, 22, was the sixth overall selection in the draft. In three seasons at Duke, Jones started all 36 games in which he played. With the Blue Devils, Jones completed 764 of 1,275 passes (60%) for 8,201 yards, 52 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. He also had 406 rushing attempts for 1,323 yards (3.3-yard avg.) and 17 touchdowns. Jones was outstanding in the preseason. In four games, he completed 29 of 34 passes (85.3%) for 416 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a glittering 137.2 rating. Jones will be the third of the 11 quarterbacks selected in this year’s draft to both play and start a game. Kyler Murray, the first overall selection by Arizona, started the Cardinals’ first two games. Gardner Minshew II, a sixth-round selection by Jacksonville from Washington State, started the Jaguars’ loss Sunday in Houston as a replacement for the injured Nick Foles. Manning has been the Giants’ starting quarterback since he replaced Kurt Warner with seven games remaining in his rookie season in 2004. He has started 232 of the Giants’ last 233 regular-season games. The loss Sunday to the Bills dropped his record to an even .500 at 116-116. He is 8-4 (.667) in the postseason, including victories in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI in which he was named the games’ most valuable player. Manning started 210 consecutive regular-season games from Nov. 21, 2004 to Nov. 23, 2017, the second-longest streak by a quarterback in NFL history. Only Brett Favre (297) started more consecutive games than Manning. He did not play on Dec. 3, 2017 at Oakland but returned to the lineup the following week and has since started all 22 games the Giants have played. He will be the team’s No. 2 quarterback at Tampa Bay. Manning holds all of the Giants’ career passing records, including attempts (8,061, which places him sixth in NFL history), completions (4,860, sixth), passing yards (56,537, seventh) and touchdown passes (362, eighth). |
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