https://embed.sendtonews.com/oembed/?SC=jZJAdIv3nK-1529225-6173&format=json&offsetx=0&offsety=0&floatwidth=400&floatposition=bottom-right&float=on
It was supposed to be Eli Manning’s day on Sunday. The New York Giants were to induct him into the Ring of Honor and retire his No. 10 jersey in front of a packed house and a bus-load of his former teammates.
Only, MetLife Stadium wasn’t packed. The Giants were in a rush to sell tickets leading up to kickoff, but fell short.
That’s not an indictment of Manning but rather, the current state of the team.
No matter. The Giants could surely beat the lowly Atlanta Falcons, right? There would be no logical reason for the fans who did show up to be upset when Manning took the podium at halftime, right?
Well…that’s not how the cookie crumbled.
The Giants trailed at halftime and the fans had reached their boiling point early. They booed the players as they headed into the locker room and they continued to boo — loudly — when co-owner John Mara took the podium at the start of Manning’s ceremony.
What did Mara say? The fans were booing so loudly it was hard to tell.
The frustration had boiled over and it took the spotlight away from Manning. A moment that was supposed to be about him became a statement about the current Giants product.
It wasn’t the fault of the fans. And it wasn’t meant as disrespect to Eli. It was just another in a long line of unfortunate happenstances that resulted in a dark cloud hanging over Manning’s head.
“I don’t think that’s fair to Mr. Mara. I think he’s done a great job. He’s a great owner. We just have to keep doing better as a team,” running back Saquon Barkley said of the fans booing Mara after the game.
How about how unfair it was to Manning?
“Obviously Eli did an amazing job here and has done some great things for this organization. It would definitely have meant a little bit more to go out there and get a win for him, but we didn’t do that,” Barkley added.
The Giants hadn’t won for Eli in a long time. In fact, Mara recently admitted that one of his biggest regrets was wasting Manning’s final years with the team.
“I wish we had gotten Eli a little more help towards the end of his career on the offensive line. I probably was a little too impatient with Ben McAdoo,” Mara told Steve Serby of the New York Post. “I think we could have made some better personnel decisions around that time. A number of them didn’t work out, and I think that really hurt us. I think not getting Eli a little more help on the offensive line and maybe at some skill positions probably is one of the bigger regrets.”
It figures they would let Manning down one final time. It’s why he retired in the first place.
“The losses hurt more. They affect your sleep. They affect your week. It affects family life with my wife and kids and it just got too much. I like watching the games and I root for the Giants and I feel for them after a loss. But you know what, I go to bed very easily on Sunday nights and wake up and feel good about the upcoming week, and it’s not something that lingers for three or four days like it used to,” Manning told reporters last week.
But Manning won’t gripe. He won’t say a word. That’s wasn’t his style when he played and that’s not his style now. He’ll smile and see the bright side of things because that’s just who he is.
In the end, that’s just Manning covering for a team that wronged him so much. Literally up until the moment they retired his jersey.
Manning gave the Giants everything and he deserved better. He still deserves better. But at least the fans cheered him — the only time they’ve cheered at all this season.
[vertical-gallery id=626979]