East Rutherford, N.J. – Sat next to Eli Manning in one of the Giants’ meeting rooms last week and talked football. Giants football. About life in this massive and complex jungle and the trappings of being a quarterback in Giants blue that turned many of his recent forerunners blunt red.
Zzzzzzzzz.
Can somebody pinch me? Wake me.
Eli Manning is so cool, so calm and understated, that had an earthquake hit I doubt he would have budged. A wrecking ball might have socked the place and he probably would have flipped on film and studied another Broncos blitz.
Seldom can be found a persona so dull yet so exciting.
He is the hope for the Giants’ present and future. The Broncos today will find a leader who has a simple face and comes from a regal lineage, who no matter how many times you pound him, gets up.
A 24-year-old who makes his 13th NFL start, and with precision is clearing clouds of youthful quarterback confusion.
A soft-spoken guy who wants it all yet pushes humility first.
A quarterback who can be pretty, magical, flashy and marvelous, but finds his greatest solace in hard work and getting the job done.
His tranquil demeanor remains intact but his play continues to elevate.
“Well, I think no matter whatever it is you’re doing, you’d better be yourself,” Manning said. “I’m kind of a normal guy and not the type to try to act out or be seen. If there is something to be done, I do it. I want to be under the radar a bit. That’s hard here because of the spotlight, and the more you do you blow up more. But I’m not going to hide.”
Just duck.
Be seen. Not make a scene.
Embrace his older brother, Peyton of the Colts, who is in one ear, as well as his father, Archie, the former gallant Saints quarterback, in the other. Benefit from his unusual background, but not live off of it.
What a tap dance that is, to surface from such plum origins but carve one’s own destiny. It requires plenty of heart, mind and soul. His father has advised him that it is like sawing wood – just keep pulling, pushing.
This is not a quarterback who grabs teammates by the collar or screams and yells instruction. Some of it is youth. More of it is simply Manning.
“He is going to be like he is, no matter what, and that’s fine,” Tom Coughlin, his coach, said. “It’s all about how he plays, because quarterbacks have so much to do they cannot be all things all of the time. He gives us hope and a heck of a starting point.”
Manning was not shy last year about his desire to not play for San Diego. He forced the Chargers to trade the first pick of last year’s draft to the Giants and made his first start last season in Week 10.
He lost his first six games, beat Dallas in the finale and has led the Giants to a 3-2 record this season.
He has 10 touchdown passes, three interceptions and has completed 52.3 percent of his passes.
He is the NFC’s highest-rated quarterback (104.4) in the fourth quarter. He has led the Giants to 149 points, third-most in the NFC, and 20 points more than the Broncos have scored.
At 6-feet-4, 218 pounds, Manning exhibits stout stature in the pocket and can zing any kind of pass.
“I have never heard him raise his voice once in the huddle or anywhere else,” Giants offensive tackle Bob Whitfield said. “I have never heard him cuss once. But his ball in the air looks like it spits cuss words.”
The education of Eli continues against a Broncos defense that is expected to get after him like a pit bull on fresh meat. Mangle the kid. All Giants opponents enter with those intentions.
Coughlin said Manning today “has to handle it; we have to handle it.”
Manning expects big plays to unfold in those conditions. He is proving that he can handle it. No one knows for how long and with how much success.
“There is no phony confidence there,” said Ernie Accorsi, 63, the Giants general manager in his 34th year in the league and 12th with the Giants. “Nobody is ever going to convince me on the lack of importance of a stellar quarterback and that is why we pushed to get him. You better have a great quarterback and you better be right. We will be forever linked together. This guy is going to put rings on this franchise’s fingers. My only regret is I might be retired and at a sandtrap somewhere when it happens.”
Big game for the Broncos. Big game for the Giants. Big game for Manning.
“They’re 5-1, we’re 3-2 and we’re right there on the edge,” Giants safety Shaun Williams said. “No matter what happens, we know that Eli is a keeper.”
He showed that, his teammates said, when he was knocked silly by Philadelphia last season but got up, when he visited San Diego earlier this season and tuned out a hostile hello and in Dallas last week, when he struggled early but arose late.
“There was no master plan for me to become a Giant, it’s just how everything worked out,” Manning said. “I’m with a classic franchise with classic owners. I’ve had some struggles that will pay later. My teammates have protected me, stuck with me, and that has made it easier. I can handle things.”
The Broncos are advised not to let Manning lull them to sleep.
He prefers you nod.
That is when he delivers best.
Staff writer Thomas George can be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
