E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only five sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
So what's wrong with Eli Manning?

Is it the sophomore jinx, is he pressing, is it his footwork, was he overrated to start with, is his elbow still hurting (you remember, the one he hurt in the third preseason game), does he feel the pressure of the championship hunt?

Well, what is it?

The Giants are one victory removed from their first NFC East championship in five years, and he is the quarterback of record. To point out the overall importance coaches put in their quarterbacks, one need only listen to Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin, who spends most of the time answering any question about Eli defending him and protecting him.

"He is a young quarterback," he says. "He hasn't even finished a full season as the starter. He is still learning. He sometimes needs to make better decisions and sometimes he looks great. But remember this. We have won 10 of our 14 games and he has been the quarterback. He has won 10 games."

The truth, in its simplicity, cannot be ignored.

But as the Giants head to Washington (actually, to Landover, Md.) for a Christmas Eve game with the Redskins that could bring them the championship, it is well to remember that the defense pulled him out of a few messy situations and that running back Tiki Barber also accounted for a few -- like last Saturday against Kansas City when, left to his own devices, it is perfectly clear that Eli would have lost the game.

"Our goal all season has been to win this division," he says. "Now we have the opportunity to do it. It's not going to be easy, it's going to be tough. But we are going to have to go there and just do our job and hope that things work out for us."

Hey, Eli? Things will work out a lot better if you don't over-throw those wide open receivers, you know? Things will work out just ducky if you stop throwing off your back foot, too. And just wait and see how great things will work out if you put the ball in the air so that the receiver can catch it in stride and not have to slow down or stop and wait for the damned thing while hordes of defensive players, furious at having been fooled by Plaxico Burress or Amani Toomer or that little monster Tiki come flying into the defenseless would-be receiver.

If Manning is the real deal -- and we have all seen enough flashes to know that the fire next time might just keep on burning and burning -- then he is going to rise to the occasion of this game. It is Saturday at 1 p.m. in far-from-friendly FedEx Field, and 91,655 crazed fans, all but probably 11 or so Redskin loonies, are going to be shrieking from start to finish. It should make the sound-enhanced crowd in Seattle sound like a kitten's mewling.

"The crowd is going to be loud," Eli said, unnecessarily. "We have played in loud stadiums this season."

The sure-fire method of calming down a home crowd out of control, a crowd that has reached the farthest stretch of decibel possibility, is to take a lead early and then make it look easy. Nobody cheers at an execution. So that's what Manning has to do, and why not? It is what all the great quarterbacks have been able to do, to snuff the sound in an enemy stadium.

Well, young Eli hasn't been exactly the model of a great quarterback in his last three or four games. He has been decidedly less than great. But he understands the coaching concept that Coughlin and offensive coordinator John Hufnagel and quarterbacks coach Kevin Gilbride have tried to impart.

"I am just going to try to manage the game well and make smart decisions and try and move the ball and get some points on the scoreboard," he said. "I'm not going to play scared. You can't play not to turn the ball over, but you have to be smart, you have to know when to take your shots and when to be careful with the ball."

Would you believe that Eli leads all the quarterbacks in the NFC with 3,314 yards gained? He is tied with Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck with 22 touchdown passes. Of course, he has also thrown 16 interceptions, third most in the division.

Coughlin, ever the protective mother hen, offers this insight to Eli. "Everybody needs to get better," he says. "All the time. There isn't a player out there who doesn't need to get better. But each week some real good things happen and some things that are not so good [also happen]. So if you eliminate the things that are not so good, then I think you'd say that the performance is where you want it to be. We are constantly after improvement, from everybody."

Enough, coach. Eli is the starting quarterback of the Giants and he isn't Dave Brown or Joe Pisarcik or Randy Dean or Danny Kanell. He is being likened to some of the great ones, even to his older brother Peyton. You expect more from that kind, and you pay more for them, too.

The Giants signed Manning to a $54 million contract last year, after they acquired him in that storied trade with San Diego, and from the first returns, he's probably worth it -- money being what it is in the NFL. Even the trade has become far more palatable.

But now it's time to win. Now the Giants are getting ready for a game that can bring them a division championship, and it isn't just about Eli Manning any more. He has to be a piece of the championship puzzle, and he has to be a piece that fits.

Starting Saturday.

The math is simple: Win the game and you win the division.

You got that, Eli?

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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