Giants general manager Jerry Reese says Eli Manning will be “pitch count” entering 2017 season
The New York Giants officially closed the door on their 2016 season when they reported to training camp on Thursday. The journey the team hopes ends with hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the conclusion of Super Bowl LII in 192 days has begun.
Eli Manning, the NFL’s iron man quarterback, is entering his 14th NFL season. He hasn’t missed a start since becoming the Giants’ starter Nov. 21, 2004, a span of 199 regular season and 12 postseason games.
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General manager Jerry Reese says No. 10’s snaps will be closely monitored entering training camp and throughout the season, putting Manning on the gridiron equivalent of a “pitch count”.
“You can call it a pitch count,” Reese said. “You can frame it like that, you can frame it however you like. That’s a good way to frame it if you like.”
It same almost sacrilegious. Manning has attempted 6,825 passes as the Giants’ starter. Father Time, however, is undefeated.
Manning is coming off a 2016 campaign where he was under constant pressure, perhaps the most pressure he’s faced as a professional quarterback. He threw for 4,027 yards and 26 touchdowns. Manning also had 20 turnovers, including seven interceptions in the final six games of the season.
Manning said throughout the season his arm wasn’t an issue. He also dismissed suggestions that he was bothered by a hand injury.
“I don’t know if that was an issue or not, but that is something that we talked about,” Reese said. “We want to make sure that he is fresh in the games late in the year and hopefully going into the playoffs. We want him to be fresh and ready to go.”
Reese acknowledges Manning, 36, is closer to the end of his career than the beginning. He used the term “back nine” when discussing Manning after the Giants were eliminated in last season’s playoffs. A plan to preserve him is only prudent, especially considering what other teams with older quarterbacks have done in recent years.
“I think it’s just common sense. You see it all around the (National Football League),” Reese said. “I think (retired Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony) Romo, one year there was one day where he never practiced. I think it was on a Wednesday or something like that.
“You see it all over the league with older players, coaches give them some time off or some reps off and we have some older players at different positions that we want to have fresh going into the games and the latter part of this season and again hopefully the playoffs.”
The Giants have no specific plan as to how Manning will get those days or reps off. Reese says it will be up to head coach Ben McAdoo, who will have analytics and his assistants to help him to decide when it will be most sensible.
Manning is not the only veteran who would benefit from reduced practice days/reps. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall, linebacker Jonathan Casillas, and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie are all older players who have been injured in the last couple of years.
“There are a few guys on the squad that coach McAdoo and our staff, we’ve talked about, ‘Ok, let’s make sure these guys to the game, get to the season’,” Reese said. “You’ve got to protect them in some ways. Each one of those guys you want to protect along with a few more guys, older guys you want to protect.”
This is especially true of Manning, the most important and oldest player on the Giants’ roster.
Of course, this goes against the competitive nature of these athletes. They didn’t get to the NFL by holding back and they want to be on the field as much as possible. Older players need to be protected from themselves, even if it’s contrary to the way they’ve played their entire life.
“All competitive players want to play,” Reese said. “They want to stay out there, they want to take every rep, but he (Manning) is a smart guy too, so that is between the coaching staff and him and that is up to the head coach to look out for the pitch count, if you want to call it that, but it will happen with a few players across our team.”
Proceeding with caution is especially important for the Giants and their Super Bowl aspirations.
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