By Mark Madden
December 1, 2017
Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger in 2013 (Getty Images)
The ruckus over Eli Manning’s benching has redefined overreaction. The New York Giants are 2-9. What’s the difference who plays quarterback?
Words like “loyalty” and “respect” get tossed around. Loyalty in sports died when the athletes got free agency.
Manning has been paid $219 million by the Giants. In 2015, at age 34, he signed a four-year contract worth $84 million (with $67 million guaranteed). That’s enough loyalty and respect to last several lifetimes. The rest is just playing time.
Manning has started 210 consecutive games, second-longest all-time among quarterbacks. The Giants offered Manning a chance to play the first half Sunday at Oakland, then sit the second half. Manning declined. Not sure why, because if he did well in the first half, he would surely play the second.
It’s a terribly clumsy situation, but hardly unique to Manning.
Brett Favre left Green Bay. Peyton Manning left Indianapolis. Joe Montana left San Francisco. If they can switch teams, so can Eli Manning.
If it’s different with Eli, perhaps it’s because New York blows everything out of proportion. If this happened in Jacksonville, nobody would care.
Or perhaps it’s because Favre, Peyton and Montana didn’t cry about their situations. Eli has been a whiny brat since San Diego drafted him in 2004 and he famously donned the boo-boo face to take photos.
Eli did win two Super Bowls with the Giants. He did something the Steelers can’t do, namely beat New England in the playoffs.
What does Ben Roethlisberger think of the Eli Manning situation?
“That could be me,” he said yesterday.
The Steelers quarterback has wondered aloud about retiring since last off-season. Lots of factors figure in: Being tired of the grind, pressure, clubhouse culture and physical punishment; desiring more time with family; escaping while everything still works; feeling you’ve accomplished all you can.
Roethlisberger might look at the Eli mess and wonder if things could end badly for him in Pittsburgh. Better to quit while he’s good, while the Steelers are good and before he gets benched for somebody like Landry Jones.
That almost certainly won’t happen to Roethlisberger with the Steelers. None of the parties involved would allow it, and Mike Tomlin isn’t a buffoon like Giants coach Ben McAdoo. The Steelers won’t be 2-9 as long as they have Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell.
But Bell’s contract situation is tenuous. Would the Steelers franchise him again?
Roethlisberger turns 36 on March 2. Retiring at the end of the current season would be Roethlisberger’s safest bet on so many levels.
It wouldn’t help the Steelers, though.
The Steelers would be left with a legit championship contender with Jones at quarterback. Make no mistake, if Roethlisberger retires at campaign’s end, Jones is the starter next season.
The Steelers might draft a long-term successor in 2018. (Josh Dobbs has zero chance at that designation.) But Jones would initially be No. 1 on the depth chart. Barring injury, he would start at quarterback in Week 1.
Signing a big-money free-agent QB like Kirk Cousins would make sense given the weapons at the Steelers’ disposal. But that’s not how the Steelers do things. Jones knows the offense, and he’s next in the line of succession.
But maybe owner Art Rooney II thinks differently than his late father, Dan. That’s a possibility that shouldn’t be discounted.
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
No comments:
Post a Comment