Person of Interest: the Giants’ Eli Manning
Nov 6, 2014, 10:30 AM | Updated: 1:02 pm
Giants quarterback Eli Manning is 2-4 in his career against Seattle, most recently losing 23-0 last season. (AP)
(AP)
BY
Former Seattle Sports Host
Vitals
• Position: Franchise quarterback with two Super Bowls and one incredibly pouty face
• Height: 6-4
• Weight: 218
• Age: 33
• Experience: 11th season
The storyline
He’s a quarterback who is both proven and pedigreed. Proven because along with Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger, he is one of only three active quarterbacks who has won multiple Super Bowls. The pedigree? That’s obvious. He is Peyton’s brother, the youngest child of Archie Manning.
But for all that history, Manning’s team hasn’t made the playoffs in any of the three seasons since winning that last Super Bowl. That’s not going to change this year. Not with the Giants at 3-5 and having been outscored 98-45 during their current three-game losing streak.
The Giants simply don’t have the horsepower we’re accustomed to seeing. Not on the ground, where leading rusher Rashad Jennings has missed the last three games with a knee injury and didn’t practice on Wednesday. Not on the outside, where Hakeem Nicks left as a free agent and Victor Cruz suffered a season-ending knee injury earlier this year against Philadelphia.
Given all that, perhaps it’s a credit to Manning that he has been as average as he has, throwing for 1,932 yards, which ranks 17th in the league. He has only been picked off five times this season, but Seattle is a team that has been especially adept at intercepting Manning.
The statement
| Eli Manning’s career passing stats | ||||||
| Opponent | Games | Cmp % | Yds/game | TDs | INTs | Rating |
| Seattle | 6 | 62.5 | 292 | 13 | 12 | 84.8 |
| Others | 155 | 58.5 | 229.2 | 232 | 164 | 83.1 |
The Seahawks picked Manning off five times last December in the Meadowlands, a game that foreshadowed not only Seattle’s Super Bowl victory at that stadium a month and a half later, but a change in the Giants’ offense in the offseason
Kevin Gilbride retired as offensive coordinator after last season, and New York hired Ben McAdoo, an assistant coach with the Packers under Mike McCarthy. The change is evident to Seattle.
“They look like Green Bay,” cornerback Richard Sherman said of the Giants’ offense. “They get the ball out quick.”
Manning has been sacked 16 times so far this season, eight of those coming in one game against Philadelphia. But he has also had a tendency of throwing the ball up for grabs. At least he has against Seattle.
In six career starts vs. the Seahawks, Manning is 2-4 and has been intercepted 12 times, nearly twice as often as his rate in all other games. Of course, he has thrown more touchdown passes, too, but after forcing three turnovers in last week’s game against Oakland, Seattle’s defensive backs will welcome the opportunity to create a few more turnovers.
