On the crazy Russell Wilson/Cowherd 3 way deal thread jtgiants (who's been a fantastic resource for all of us this and past offseasons) said the following about the Giants cutting Eli:
| The Giants cutting Eli now would be a dick move and sever his relationship with the Giants by forcing his retirement. They won't do that to him or his legacy. Like it or not it isn't happening. |
I'm not trying to put jtgiants on the spot...I think he's plugged in and giving us an accurate perspective into the Giants' thinking.
You can not operate a football team this way. It's very difficult to win in the NFL if you're making critical decisions based on post-football relationships and legacies. If ever there were a time to ask "What would Belichick do?", this is it.
I very rarely start threads, but I felt this deserved one because jtgiants captured perfectly why Eli is still the QB - and it's not just about winning in 2019.
I'll take that bet in a heartbeat.
What's the stakes?
Quote:
In comment 14381580 bw in dc said:
Quote:
In comment 14381554 dep026 said:
Quote:
...
John Mara:
“I was hoping that Eli would play so well that it would be impossible to take him out. In any event, it is what it is. But you ought to stop blaming Ben and Jerry. If you want to blame anybody, blame me. I certainly have the power to overrule if I wanted to. I chose not to do it.”
He said what he said to settle the situation. Of course you believe what he said here because it fits your agenda but anything else Mara says and he’s full of shit, right?
Anyone who believes what Mara said after the benching is a fool.
I couldn't agree more. And an even bigger fool (or maybe just delusional) if you don't realize that Mara absolutely signed off on the whole thing before they spoke with Eli and thought the offer to extend the streak would suffice. Everything else that followed was lip service and spin.
If you choose to see it another way, you're just as guilty of the bias and agenda nonsense that you toss at everyone you disagree with.
Right. He agreed with it so much that he fired the two the day after the game and has ignored what he signed off on for 2 years and running. And the two people who misled Mara are still out of football without jobs.
But yeah.... he signed off on taking Eli out of the game no matter the score or how well he is playing. I am sure you still believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny... but again how dare we question almighty GatoradeDunk “the smartest guy on BBI”.
And before you dismiss my last statement you should know you sure as hell act like it.
- trading Pierre Paul
- drafting Hernandez, Hill, and Carter
- signing Haley
- picking up Coleman
- cutting Flowers, Hart, Jerry
- trading Apple
Bad
- drafting Barkely over Darnold
- extending Beckham
- signing Solder, Omameh, Martin
- trading Snacks
- not trading Jenkins and Collins
- trading for Ogletree
Good
- trading Pierre Paul
- Drafting Barkley - best overall player in the draft
- drafting Hernandez, Hill, and Carter
- signing Haley
- picking up Coleman
- cutting Flowers, Hart, Jerry
- trading Apple
- trading for Ogletree
Bad
- Extending Beckham
- signing Stewart, Omameh, Barwin
- Trading Snacks at the time he did
- Drafting Lauletta (seeing the way he was/wasn't utilized)
What I don't get is if the lists are fairly even and he's had to come in after several years of terrible drafts and poor roster construction - why would anyone insinuate that the moves he made were "fireable offenses"?
As bad of an offseason I feel general management had last year, this year has been great. At the risk of setting a smoke grenade, the "plan" this year feels more cogent. Get younger, shed bad contracts, pick up draft picks, spend frugally.
Minor difference of opinion on Solder and Beckham last year.
I don't subscribe to the no alternative theory when it comes to assets. I'd genuinely rather do nothing than something unwise. Hindsight and all that, but Solder's previous employer made a far better choice at the position. That's one viable choice the Giants didn't entertain.
Again with hindsight -- but I'd rather the Giants traded Beckham last offseason for one first round pick and change and kept the 22M they paid for the 12 games.
If Giants had moved him to the 49ers for their 2018 1st and 3rd and all things transpire the same the Giants land a stud tackle, a starting LB, and 22M to put toward free agency.
And (maybe) importantly for Gettleman, it would have led some credence to his claim he wanted to improve culture. There aren't enough Jonathan Stewart's in the world to counter the face of the org in bed doing drugs, questioning the quarterback, questioning the coach, and not showing up for a quarter of the season.
That is the story here...nothing else.
Another positive is that he signed Jamon Brown and cut Omameh after realizing a mistake.
I also think both trades of OV and Beckham are positive moves.
A negative for me - not from a personnel standpoint, but from a personality standpoint is that he says too many things to try and sound old school and that often backfires with the Media (and some fans).
I also don't know if he foresaw the Colllins situation as it will likely turn out as a positive, but letting him walk without a trade was poor, even though we have Peppers and will likely get a 3rd round comp pick (which is about what a trade would have given)
Again - when you add it all up, for posters to say he had fireable offenses just looks like fuzzy math
After that you can put any spin you want on it. Personally, I don't think a move of that magnitude happens without the blessing of Mara. It doesn't have to be as nefarious as Mara agreeing with and being right there in planning the deposition. At the very least, Mara let his head coach and GM make the move, knowing full well he had veto power - to me that is de facto being ok with the move.
Afterwards, Mara threw them both under the bus when the backlash hit much harder than he had anticipated.
Regarding DG being a hire with a mandate of keeping Eli: that is one way of spinning it. Another is hiring a GM who is of like mind with the way the Maras were thinking. If you own a team that you take an active role in running, and you have an opinion on the direction your team should take, you're going to hire someone who is going in that direction. Hence, it would be no real surprise that the Maras and DG/PS all seemed to think Eli had gas left in the tank.
Mara caved to fan outrage and threw those guys under the bus, plain and simple.
ron mexico : 8:29 am : link : reply
Hoping he was playing so well that it would be impossible to take him out? Give me a fucking break, did he watch any games that year? It was virtually impossible for that to happen.
And yet two weeks after the Oakland game was the infamous game against Philly where Manning Manning threw for 434 yards and 3TD's.
Impossible they say!!!
Mara caved to fan outrage and threw those guys under the bus, plain and simple.
You know it was rhetorical, right? My thinking that you didnt catch the sarcasm, even for how true it is.
Mara caved into fan outrage so much now that 18 months later, and soon to be over 2 years - he is still trying to soothe the souls of peopel who saw this benching as idiotic.
Yep. Makes perfect sense.
Quote:
That quote from Mara above is such bullshit
ron mexico : 8:29 am : link : reply
Hoping he was playing so well that it would be impossible to take him out? Give me a fucking break, did he watch any games that year? It was virtually impossible for that to happen.
And yet two weeks after the Oakland game was the infamous game against Philly where Manning Manning threw for 434 yards and 3TD's.
Impossible they say!!!
He threw an INT in that game that I am sure was a game changing one.
I'd be willing to bet our guy DG doesn't look so bad.
A couple of other things I'd point out when having this discussion.
First, the 2018 QB class is massively overhyped as of right now. Mayfield (who wasn't available) looked the best, the others were a mix of injured, wildly inconsistent, and in the case of Allen and Jackson, it's still hard to be convinced there's anything special there.
Second, the career span of Saquon Barkley and running backs in general has been reduced to just a couple of seasons according to the popular BS narrative on BBI that Gettleman did something unthinkable by selecting the best overall prospect not only in the last year's draft, but the last 25 years of drafts.
Finally, stop confusing "the Giants don't have a plan" with "the Giants aren't executing the plan I wish to see". It is clear they have a vision for what type of future roster they'd like to build, and in the meantime, they want to win as many games as they can. There is no tanking, this is not the NBA, there is so much parity and so much is dependent on injuries and overall health that it's always worth a shot.
As far as the non-Eli related moves, think culture, culture, culture. That's been the basis of nearly every move they've made the last two years. Snacks, DRC, Apple, Collins, Beckham all gone. The franchise probably looks different right now if the 2017 team didn't fold like a tent after getting punched in the mouth early in the season. Then came the reports of the secondary implosion, Snacks not wanting to be a leader. Beckham doing his thing. Here we are.
Nothing they have done has mortgaged the future. They have 12 picks. They are on the verge of millions of dollars in cap space. We can probably argue about whether or not you think the roster is improved but I'd describe it as so. Less talented, but improved.
For those complaining about Manning, the GM told you he knows he needs to find his successor. He's going to pick his man either this month or next year. Either way, it's not some situation of gross negligence. If you take a step back and look at what's happening, it actually makes a lot of sense.
The funny thing is the best thing he could have done for Eli's legacy is cut him after that season. He would have gone out as a sympathetic character with fans thinking he can still play.
Mara is taking the cowards way out which will likely end with an empty stadium in December and a loosing record for the year and possibly Elis career.
The funny thing is the best thing he could have done for Eli's legacy is cut him after that season. He would have gone out as a sympathetic character with fans thinking he can still play.
Mara is taking the cowards way out which will likely end with an empty stadium in December and a loosing record for the year and possibly Elis career.
Yeah, that's it. That's how I run a half a billion dollar business.
Couldn't just be as simple as rebuilding a roster to win games.
We know one thing and one thing only as fact and that is actual quotes. What Mara actually said and what DG actually said. We can ascribe whatever motivations to the team's actions, including keeping Eli on the team, playing Eli, whatever. But, when we say "they are doing this or doing that because..." it's pure fantasy at best or, more likely delusion. And repetitively portray our own delusions as fact in order to rope others so that we can have group-think, is propaganda.
The truth is, nobody here has any evidence for anything, *other* than direct quotes from Mara and DG.
The funny thing is the best thing he could have done for Eli's legacy is cut him after that season. He would have gone out as a sympathetic character with fans thinking he can still play.
Mara is taking the cowards way out which will likely end with an empty stadium in December and a loosing record for the year and possibly Elis career.
Where is this making it up to Eli bullshit coming from? Holy making up narratives to fit agendas.
It’s gonna be over 2 years. It’s time for fans to realize that the culprits are the ones out of the league. The supporting of McAdoo and Reese in this site is truly astonishing.
We know one thing and one thing only as fact and that is actual quotes. What Mara actually said and what DG actually said. We can ascribe whatever motivations to the team's actions, including keeping Eli on the team, playing Eli, whatever. But, when we say "they are doing this or doing that because..." it's pure fantasy at best or, more likely delusion. And repetitively portray our own delusions as fact in order to rope others so that we can have group-think, is propaganda.
The truth is, nobody here has any evidence for anything, *other* than direct quotes from Mara and DG.
Propoganda? Lol. This isn't WWII. This is opinions on the internet.
And quotes are borderline facts. Quotes can be spun or outright lies.
Quote:
must be true" on this thread.
We know one thing and one thing only as fact and that is actual quotes. What Mara actually said and what DG actually said. We can ascribe whatever motivations to the team's actions, including keeping Eli on the team, playing Eli, whatever. But, when we say "they are doing this or doing that because..." it's pure fantasy at best or, more likely delusion. And repetitively portray our own delusions as fact in order to rope others so that we can have group-think, is propaganda.
The truth is, nobody here has any evidence for anything, *other* than direct quotes from Mara and DG.
Propoganda? Lol. This isn't WWII. This is opinions on the internet.
And quotes are borderline facts. Quotes can be spun or outright lies.
But it's *so* much more than you've got for support. Which is simply gas.
After that you can put any spin you want on it. Personally, I don't think a move of that magnitude happens without the blessing of Mara. It doesn't have to be as nefarious as Mara agreeing with and being right there in planning the deposition. At the very least, Mara let his head coach and GM make the move, knowing full well he had veto power - to me that is de facto being ok with the move.
Afterwards, Mara threw them both under the bus when the backlash hit much harder than he had anticipated.
Regarding DG being a hire with a mandate of keeping Eli: that is one way of spinning it. Another is hiring a GM who is of like mind with the way the Maras were thinking. If you own a team that you take an active role in running, and you have an opinion on the direction your team should take, you're going to hire someone who is going in that direction. Hence, it would be no real surprise that the Maras and DG/PS all seemed to think Eli had gas left in the tank.
To be fair to Mara, he tries to not get involved in the coaching decisions as the season starts. Not like a Jerruh for example.
Let's go back and look at the whole Eli thing in 2017. The Giants had just lost on a Thursday Night game at Washington, a 20-10 snoozefest to drop the team to 2-9. The Giants only TD in the game was a Jackrabbit pick 6. Eli put up a 13-27, 113 yards and 1 pick with 4 sack performance.
The season had been lost, but by that point any hopes of making the playoffs were gone. Mara had said he was not going to stand in the way of changes once the team was out of the playoffs.
McAdoo didn't like Eli. That's not a secret to anyone. McAdoo didn't think Eli could run his offense and could play with the offensive line he had. Remember his comment before the 2017 season
Anyway, the buzzards were already circling for McAdoo and Reese. McAdoo lost the team in the LA Rams game. I went to that game and it was the first time since I have been going to games 1987 that I actually got up and left a game in the 3rd quarter because I couldn't stand how much it was clear the team didn't give a shit (that and it was a misty/cold rain and I had my 9 year old son and his friends there and it felt like child abuse to keep them there).
When Jim Fassel made his "push his chips to the center of the table, we're going to the playoff speech" in 2000, I'm always amused how much play it got in the vein of Joe Namath. The Giants had come off back to back blow out losses at home to the Rams and Lions. They fell to 7-4 and were watching the season unravel. If Fassel missed the playoffs, he was getting fired. It was his Hail Mary play because he was at the end of his rope. And it worked.
McAdoo pushing Eli out was his push his chips to the center of the table moment. Only it wasn't the playoffs. He was banking and blaming Eli for the Giants not winning. He put his faith in Geno Smith, of all people. McAdoo's inability to read the room, which was apparent from his first press conference when he couldn't find a fucking suit that fit, cost him his job. And Reese was tied to him, so they both had to go. Bottom line, McAdoo went after a 2 time Super Bowl winning QB to blame for his own incompetence as a head coach. Now, that's not to discount what he fully said about Eli's shortcomings. He was right. He just was the wrong messenger.
I can find a quote about him being surprised by the fan reaction and not wanting an ugly scene in the stadium after the benching.
Are you arguing against me or Bill here?
Another positive is that he signed Jamon Brown and cut Omameh after realizing a mistake.
I also think both trades of OV and Beckham are positive moves.
A negative for me - not from a personnel standpoint, but from a personality standpoint is that he says too many things to try and sound old school and that often backfires with the Media (and some fans).
I also don't know if he foresaw the Colllins situation as it will likely turn out as a positive, but letting him walk without a trade was poor, even though we have Peppers and will likely get a 3rd round comp pick (which is about what a trade would have given)
Again - when you add it all up, for posters to say he had fireable offenses just looks like fuzzy math
I think all your takes are reasonable.
I agree fireable is hyperbole. I think he tried too many angles, and it backfired.
I think after all the spending and all the moves, and the draft picks he netted an unimpressive number of core players in 2018.
With 4 top 70 picks and committing well in excess of 100M in contract guarantees, I think it was a bad offseason.
- Barkley, Hernandez, Hill, Carter in the draft
- Solder and Ogletree in acquisitions
- Coleman, Beal, and McIntosh as major wild cards
2019 looks much, much better.
as a bad move. Sorry, just can not wrap my head around that and never will be able to.
His yards last year were the 4th highest of his career.
His completion percentage was the highest of his career
His interceptions were the 2nd lowest of his career (not counting year 1)
He also had 3 games with 0 TD’s and 7 games with 1 TD.
If Eli Manning puts up a few more TD’s in those games... We are talking about how Eli (at 37) put up one of the best statistical seasons of his career.
I think the talk of his demise has been highly exaggerated. Let’s not forget also, that NONE of those stats were garbage time stats. Outside the Saints and TENN games, The Giants were in every one of those games last year. Margin of loss was less than 7 points.
There is reason for optimism. The boys played hard for PS. Character issue guys are gone (for the most part) and we SHOULD have an upgraded OL.
I can’t wait for the draft. There is reason for optimism.
There are tens of thousands of words written here daily, but most of your minds on Gettleman were made up with that single pick.
If we had taken Darnold, all of the other moves would have been excused and all of you would be preaching patience.
Zero doubt in my mind.
There are tens of thousands of words written here daily, but most of your minds on Gettleman were made up with that single pick.
If we had taken Darnold, all of the other moves would have been excused and all of you would be preaching patience.
Zero doubt in my mind.
Do you ever take a step back and contemplate why so many exchanges you participate in become unconstructive, and how potentially your massive assumptions about "most of us" are the primary reason?
Quote:
In comment 14381642 dep026 said:
Quote:
In comment 14381580 bw in dc said:
Quote:
In comment 14381554 dep026 said:
Quote:
...
John Mara:
“I was hoping that Eli would play so well that it would be impossible to take him out. In any event, it is what it is. But you ought to stop blaming Ben and Jerry. If you want to blame anybody, blame me. I certainly have the power to overrule if I wanted to. I chose not to do it.”
He said what he said to settle the situation. Of course you believe what he said here because it fits your agenda but anything else Mara says and he’s full of shit, right?
Anyone who believes what Mara said after the benching is a fool.
I couldn't agree more. And an even bigger fool (or maybe just delusional) if you don't realize that Mara absolutely signed off on the whole thing before they spoke with Eli and thought the offer to extend the streak would suffice. Everything else that followed was lip service and spin.
If you choose to see it another way, you're just as guilty of the bias and agenda nonsense that you toss at everyone you disagree with.
Right. He agreed with it so much that he fired the two the day after the game and has ignored what he signed off on for 2 years and running. And the two people who misled Mara are still out of football without jobs.
But yeah.... he signed off on taking Eli out of the game no matter the score or how well he is playing. I am sure you still believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny... but again how dare we question almighty GatoradeDunk “the smartest guy on BBI”.
And before you dismiss my last statement you should know you sure as hell act like it.
So I guess it's on brand for me to let you know that it's "Santa Claus" without the e? Unless you're just a big fan of Tim Allen, which I suppose is possible.
I did forget about the Philly game... but there weren’t any games that come to mind where the Giants racked up a bunch of garbage yards. And the games where we got blown out: Scored 0 against TENN. 13 against PHL, and 18 against NO. Those would have been the garbage time stat games.
I could be remembering wrong as well. Was a while ago.
What would be constructive would be people accepting the reality that the Giants didn't do things the way they wanted them to do and instead of starting this same thread over and over every day, talk about things that are actually happening with the team.
Do you think that if we start this same Eli/Ownership thread over and over, and put it out there into the universe enough that you can actually will it into existence?
Keep up the good work.
If that is directed at me, my opinion is not really based heavily on stats. So as far as I am concerned, yes you can not count the garbage time ints and fumbles.
I think all your takes are reasonable.
I agree fireable is hyperbole. I think he tried too many angles, and it backfired.
I think after all the spending and all the moves, and the draft picks he netted an unimpressive number of core players in 2018.
With 4 top 70 picks and committing well in excess of 100M in contract guarantees, I think it was a bad offseason.
- Barkley, Hernandez, Hill, Carter in the draft
- Solder and Ogletree in acquisitions
- Coleman, Beal, and McIntosh as major wild cards
2019 looks much, much better.
I think the bolded point is spot on and I think a major factor that led to it was the success of 2016. Rightly or wrongly, the org hoped the roster was more up to the level of what happened in 2016 vs. 2017. Rightly or wrongly Shurmur thought he could get through to Beckham. Rightly or wrongly they gave some of the old regimes players a fresh slate to turn things around. None of those things worked out, but even with hindsight it's hard to envision an alternative strategy that would have had dramatically different results. It's not like they didn't also turnover a good chunk of the roster. Most importantly they had a great draft. If Graham Gano misses a 63 yard kick we might have even had a semi-interesting season.
Quote:
the personal line in the sand was drawn when Gettleman picked Barkley over Darnold.
There are tens of thousands of words written here daily, but most of your minds on Gettleman were made up with that single pick.
If we had taken Darnold, all of the other moves would have been excused and all of you would be preaching patience.
Zero doubt in my mind.
Do you ever take a step back and contemplate why so many exchanges you participate in become unconstructive, and how potentially your massive assumptions about "most of us" are the primary reason?
You exposed your truth when you list picking Barkley as a bad pick.
Any reasonable person, whether they wanted a QB or not, could not list Barkley as a bad move after the season he just had.
You could say "failure to address the QB position already" I guess (even though he's repeated stated it's on his radar and he's only been here 1 year, but I digress), but Barkley over Darnold a bad move? Please.
I bet it would change yours, too, since it was your number one bad move.
Is that a leap of logic?
Quote:
That's a huge stretch. More than a few games were under 7 points Because of garbage time stats
I did forget about the Philly game... but there weren’t any games that come to mind where the Giants racked up a bunch of garbage yards. And the games where we got blown out: Scored 0 against TENN. 13 against PHL, and 18 against NO. Those would have been the garbage time stat games.
I could be remembering wrong as well. Was a while ago.
I'm not going to go through all the game logs but the first one I looked at was week 2 vs dallas.
Dallas scored with 5:45 left in the 4th to make the score 20-3
the final score was 20-13 with a TD at 1.27 and a FG at 0:11 (why the fuck they kicked a FG at that time boggles the mind). Vast majority of the points were garbage time.
Keep up the good work.
exactly what a Tim Allen fan would say...
Quote:
bringing very little to the table while coming across as a condescending ass.
Keep up the good work.
exactly what a Tim Allen fan would say...
This makes absolutely zero sense. And nor is it even remotely funny.
His yards last year were the 4th highest of his career.
His completion percentage was the highest of his career
His interceptions were the 2nd lowest of his career (not counting year 1)
He also had 3 games with 0 TD’s and 7 games with 1 TD.
If Eli Manning puts up a few more TD’s in those games... We are talking about how Eli (at 37) put up one of the best statistical seasons of his career.
I think the talk of his demise has been highly exaggerated. Let’s not forget also, that NONE of those stats were garbage time stats. Outside the Saints and TENN games, The Giants were in every one of those games last year. Margin of loss was less than 7 points.
There is reason for optimism. The boys played hard for PS. Character issue guys are gone (for the most part) and we SHOULD have an upgraded OL.
I can’t wait for the draft. There is reason for optimism.
Context matters. It's overwhelmingly a passing league, and those statistics actually aren't particularly impressive. Check out where each of those totals ranks relative to the league for last season - that's much more significant than where Eli's totals from last season rank for his career.
Quote:
In comment 14382186 dep026 said:
Quote:
bringing very little to the table while coming across as a condescending ass.
Keep up the good work.
exactly what a Tim Allen fan would say...
This makes absolutely zero sense. And nor is it even remotely funny.
My bad, as a Tim Allen fan, you are the expert on comedy
Keep up the good work.
It's only condescending if you feel that way. I'm sure a complete denial of statistical evidence and a consistent deification of Eli to the exclusion of all other points of view is definitely contributing more to the conversation. You're right - I'm the one bringing very little to the table.
Sorry that you can't see Mara's actions and statements in the wake of the Eli benching for what they actually were at the time - total spin to repair the franchise's position in a delicate matter that had gone sideways on them, and a pound of flesh to appease an infuriated fanbase.
That's the point to make.
Every day - there is a thread or threads posted that has the failures of Eli at the core of the message.
There truly are fans who believe Eli is the main driver for the poor record, if not the sole reason.
To use a word I often do - Ponderous.
Context matters. It's overwhelmingly a passing league, and those statistics actually aren't particularly impressive. Check out where each of those totals ranks relative to the league for last season - that's much more significant than where Eli's totals from last season rank for his career.
Yards - 9th
% - 16th
INTs - t-15
TDs - t-17th
YPA- 15th
So many of them come in league average and one in the top 10. The TDs should be higher, I agree. INTs werent bad considering 11 isnt that high of a number in a throwing league. Like to see YPA a little higher as well.
But considering how pathetic the OL was to start the year, with better OL - some of the stats figure to get better - no?
My bad, as a Tim Allen fan, you are the expert on comedy
WTF are you talking about. Holy shit you truly make this site fucking miserable.
Quote:
bringing very little to the table while coming across as a condescending ass.
Keep up the good work.
It's only condescending if you feel that way. I'm sure a complete denial of statistical evidence and a consistent deification of Eli to the exclusion of all other points of view is definitely contributing more to the conversation. You're right - I'm the one bringing very little to the table.
Sorry that you can't see Mara's actions and statements in the wake of the Eli benching for what they actually were at the time - total spin to repair the franchise's position in a delicate matter that had gone sideways on them, and a pound of flesh to appease an infuriated fanbase.
You rarely do bring little to the table. We all know this. Hell, even you know this.
See heres the thing with the benchign of Eli. You have so many posters who have shitted on Mara from everything from Eli's benching, to DG's hiring, to the direction of the franchise, etc..... and whenever he says something - people scoff at it. But when it comes to ONE particular event.... an event that was so fucked up from the beginning. One in which Mara did not openly talk about until after firing two men.... then that is the ONE time everyone is going to believe what is said? Bullshit.
McAdoo went to Eli and said we will play you in a half, and regardless of how you play - we are going to put in Geno Smith. Really? You really think Mara signed off on that idea? You really believe that an owner of a team that wants to win would sign off on benching a player "if" he was playing well and the team was winning? Do you believe that? Cause many of the posters here sure as hell do.
And what about the promise that was made to Webb? That he would start the last 3-4 games? Oh really? Thats the plan. So if geno Smith had a huge day in Oakland - Mara would have been fine saying - "Oh great job geno, I dont want to see you play anymore."
For as smart as many people here are (or claim to be), its almost comical how you guys view this situation. No time in history of the NFL has a QB been purposely benched in the middle of the game to see another QB play. We arent talking rotating. We are flat talking - ok time for you to sit. Thanks for the 3 drives.
The season was over. The only thing Eli had left was his streak. And to continue it just for the sake of continuing it was a slap in the face to him. Thats why there was outrage. For Geno Smith nonetheless. Not a rookie QB. A proven unworthy QB who stunk for his career and also in the preseason.
The two main men are still out of a job and just because Mara put out a few quotes weeks after - then thats the time to believe him? Sure. But lets pretend the Mara was ok with taking a QB out of the game despite how he was playing. Fits the BBI narrative much much much better.