Eli Manning: ‘Atmosphere has changed’ around Giants
The New York Giants are currently mired in one of their worst historical stretches, which has drawn comparisons to the “Wilderness Years” of the 1970s and early 1980s. Some would even argue things have been worse.
The downward spiral began when Tom Coughlin was forced to resign following the 2015 season and has continued through general managers Jerry Reese and Dave Gettleman, and head coaches Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge.
But the reset button was hit once again this past offseason as the Giants parted ways with Gettleman and Judge, bringing in Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll to replace them. And the early returns have been positive.
There’s no way to tell how the Giants will perform once they hit the field, but at least back home in East Rutherford, the entire atmosphere has begun to change.
“I think with coach [Brian] Daboll, and what they’re doing, and that staff and [general manager] Joe Schoen, having been around the facility some, the atmosphere has changed,” Manning told NFL Network in a recent interview. “So I’m excited for Daniel [Jones], I know he’s worked extremely hard and been through a lot of offenses, a lot of coaching changes, so hopefully this can be the right one.”
The problem facing Jones, Manning says, is that he’ll enter his fourth NFL season with his third different head coach and in his third different offensive system.
“By my fifth year, I had been in the same offense the whole time, I knew it, I could coach it up, new guys are coming in, I was speaking the same language as my offensive coordinator and as Coughlin, and kind of preaching the same stuff,” Manning said. “And with [Jones], it’s all new, and it’s learning, and he’s consistently trying to learn and learn and learn, and it just takes some time before it all sinks in.”
Luckily for Jones, Daboll is open to letting him make mistakes so long as he remains aggressive in his play. That alone should be beneficial for Jones, but also shows why the atmosphere feels more laxed around the Giants these days.
List
List of Giants players heading into the final year of their contracts in 2022
