When the New York Giants take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, Eli Manning will be back under center for the first time since Week 2 and quite possibly the last time ever.
If the Week 14 game does prove to be Manning’s swan song, many of his former teammates will be watching and cheering on, including retired wide receiver Victor Cruz.
“I’m ecstatic for him, man,” Victor Cruz told the New York Post. “I’m excited for him to kinda have control and kinda control the narrative a little bit and be under his power, right? Like go out there and just not have the pressure of failing or the pressure of succeeding, just going out there and letting his hair down and feeling like a high school kid again, playing football and throwing it around to his teammates.
“I think he’s excited for an opportunity to kinda go out with a good taste in his mouth — whether he retires or whatever he keeps playing, whatever he decides to do. I think in this moment right now, he wants to relish in this moment and really just be in the moment throughout the course of the game.”
Manning will never let on that he’s excited, anxious or basically any other emotion across the spectrum. Rather, he remains as focused and stoic as ever, which is a trait Cruz has very much grown to love.
“I knew he was about his business,” Cruz said. “I knew that he was gonna be the guy that didn’t say much, but just went out there and got it done, and got his team together, but through his play … wasn’t gonna say too much, but I knew he spoke volumes through his play and through his actions, and I think that’s always been Eli, even from the very first time I’ve seen him on TV, to getting to know him, all the way up until now, is that he’s always handled his business the right way, and went out there and been a class act and a professional from the very beginning.”
Win or lose on Monday night, that’s exactly what we’ll see from Eli again — a professional, business-like approach that concludes with class despite the result. It’s one of the greatest things about Manning and something that, should this really be it, will be sorely missed in East Rutherford.
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