My young son is becoming increasingly more interested in the Giants, so I usually put some Giants clips on for him. Many of them are, of course, Eli Manning highlights. The one thing I keep noticing as I watch these same highlights day after day is how much I undervalued Manningham. To be sure, he often had a brain fart in terms of route running, especially by the sidelines, the prime example of the good and bad, was probably the Eagles game in 2010. But, Mario made so many catches, where the degree of difficulty was so high. Moreover, those catches always seemed to be big. Whether it was his most famous catch in the Super Bowl or the 3rd and 15 catch against the Niners. In addition, he knew how to run fade routes in the endzone really well, which accounted for crucial scores in the NE regular season game or the SF regular season. While I always rated him high, I think we underrated him as an organization. Whether we could have afforded him (his contract was not that high) is a different question, but I think some of our redzone issues had to do with his absence. The real question is whether Randle will be able to make the contributions that Mario made in providing that third WR option for Eli. As much as last year's productivity problems could be traced to Nick's injuries, I think a compelling case could be made MM's departure was equally significant.
I like our receiving corps a great deal, at least on paper
p.s.-- All kidding aside, I'm not as confident as you are that the light bulb has suddenly gone on for Randle. It'll be interesting to see who gets more playing this year, Randle or Murphy.
Letting Mario walk and drafting Randle was the smart move for the medium and long term, but it came with risk of poorer depth in 2012.
We had to let Manningham go. He was demanding less money than we paid him the season before.
MM 2011: 12 games, 10 GS, 39 rec, 523 yds, 13.4 avg, 4 TDs, long 47
MM 2013: 12 games, 10 GS, 42 rec, 449 yds, 10.7 avg, 1 TD, long 40
Yup, MM was head over hills better than Hixon despite that Hixon started only 2 games compared to MM's 10. No denying MM's huge catches in the playoffs & SB, but perception trumps reality otherwise.
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift.
These were @ https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/03/18/sig-stats-first-down-touchdown-conversions-wrs/ & https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/03/18/sig-stats-first-downs-touchdowns-per-route-run-wrs/. I couldn't find these stats for 2011.
Stay healthy and maybe you have a case but MM was a big game big catch WR and there is high value in that from my POV.
Compare Eli's stats to other QBs, then look what Eli does when it counts... and MM was right there with him for the most part.
They tried to force him to be a down-and-up sideline type receiver, which he never was (because he's just not strong enough to fight for optimum position). If you may remember, his biggest plays both with the Giants and Michigan came from deep crossing patterns.
Receiver screens were his best play, because he's always been very quick and has amazing feet. every time I saw the Giants call that play for Nicks, I wondered why they didn't see the special abilities that Mario had to execute that play.
I'm guessing that he was very frustrated here. When he arrived at the 49ers, he noted that the schemes there were more suited for his type of play. I think he's right.
The Giants got to, and won Superbowl XLVI with a terrible rushing offense, but with outstanding pass protection, passing, and pass reception efforts.
How in the world do you compare Hixon vs MM with Smith throwing to MM?
When Hixon caught a pass from Eli, and Mario caught a pass from Eli, who did you think was more likely to score after the catch?
How many Int.'s did MM cause? I can't remember. Maybe some of you guys can.
Our offense went backwards in 2012 because Diehl and Snee went backwards. Eli can't pass from the seat of his pants.
he wasnt worth the price he wanted,tore his acl with the 9ers last year as well,they moved on think the fans need to as well. if nicks was healthy the giants would have more likely won the division at least,not saying they go on another super run but as it was we will never know
he blew that route on 2nd down in the superbowl before making it running the same route on the opposite side of the field had he made the catch on 2nd down it was a sure TD