The New York Giants longest running win streak of the 2017 season is over. After Big Blue’s convincing win against the Denver Broncos last week, Giants fans were hopeful that their team could turn this disappointing season around. Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks defense made sure that didn’t happen. The Giants are now an embarrassing 1-6 on the season. Here are the Giants takeaways from their game against the Seattle Seahawks
Week Seven New York Giants Takeaways
The Offense Still Needs Help
Head Coach Ben McAdoo relinquishing the play calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan was a good start. The play calling has been good since the change and the offense now doesn’t look so inept. However, Seattle exposed one great detail about the Giants offense. It is seriously lacking talent. With the bye week coming up, this is a perfect time to add some talent to this injury stricken unit.
There isn’t a ton of talent available but there are some receivers the Giants need to consider bringing in. At the moment, the receiving corps of Tavarres King, Travis Rudolph, Roger Lewis and Ed Eagan isn’t cutting it. There is no point of giving up a lot for a big name. Yet, Eli Manning needs some talent around him to make this offense run and to make sure he can get the ball out quickly like this offense is built around. If not, behind this offensive line, Manning could get seriously hurt.
There are two types of receiving talents the Giants need to look at. The first is veterans who may have something left to give. The main choice here is obvious. Victor Cruz, the Giants former Pro Bowl receiver, is sitting at home right now. If given the chance, can the now 30-year-old Cruz produce like his 2012 self? Probably not. However, his style of play matches the Giants offense perfectly. He still has the quickness and route running ability to get open on short routes and he’ll bring a veteran presence to this unit.
The second is talented prospects who didn’t pan out for their club. There are three players worth noting in this category. Free agent Dorial Green-Beckham, Minnesota’s Laquon Treadwell and Denver’s Cody Latimer. All three have talent and all three should be obtainable for a low price. Green-Beckham wouldn’t cost the Giants much of anything. Latimer, although injured at the moment, would probably cost the Giants no more than a late round pick. Treadwell, depending on how mad Minnesota is with his first year and a half, will be willing to sell him for much less than the price they drafted him at in 2016.
The Giants don’t need to go out and get all of the players mentioned, but getting one would go a long way. Sterling Shepard is most likely going to come back after the bye week. Having a receiving corps that includes Shepard, Evan Engram and one of these players would make the Giants offense capable of hanging with most defenses.
Everyone Owes Jerry Reese an Apology
After the Giants started 0-5, Twitter general managers went on the attack about how poor of a job Jerry Reese did in building this team. They said if McAdoo is going to pay for this season with his job then so should Reese. This is an unfair attack on the Giants general manager. A year after he brought in three defensive All-Pros in Damon Harrison, Olivier Vernon and the “Honey Badger” Janoris Jenkins, people wanted him gone. Two years after he drafted an All-Pro safety Landon Collins in the second round, people wanted him gone. The same year he replaced Johnathan Hankins second round draft pick Dalvin Tomlinson, who is not just replacing, but is an upgrade over Hankins, people wanted him gone.
Then the Denver game rolls around and the Giants win. The play calling narrative was an easy one for people to hop on for why the Giants won. Yet, no one credited Reese who built such a deep team. Even without the entire receiving corps, an All-Pro defensive end and other starters they were able to beat the Denver Broncos.
Now, the Giants didn’t beat the Seahawks but they kept this game closer than they had any right to. This goes to prove, that if used correctly, the team that Reese built is a good team. If they were playing like this when they had their three All-Pro starters in Odell Beckham Jr, Brandon Marshall and Vernon, this squad would be in contention for the NFC East.
Are Eli Manning’s Days Numbered?
With the trade deadline of October 31st rapidly approaching it’s time for the New York Giants front office to have the uncomfortable conversation. Is it time to move on from beloved quarterback Eli Manning? Manning is a two-time Super Bowl Champion and a four-time Pro Bowler. Even at the age of 36, Eli still has it. Unfortunately, that is the problem. The Giants are 1-6 and most likely will be drafting in the top five come April’s draft. The Giants are almost certainly going to draft a quarterback if they are in that position.
Quarterbacks who go that high in the draft are not quarterbacks who ride the bench for a couple of years. If the Giants draft a quarterback in the top five in April then the Giants will have a new starting quarterback for the first time in over a decade sometime during the 2018 season. If Eli Manning was part of the reason why the Giants were 1-6, then this would be easy. The Giants would draft a quarterback and the prospect would replace Manning sometime in the middle of the 2018 season. No harm no foul though, because Eli was on the downslope of his career and that would have been expected. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Eli Manning can play, not for too much longer, but at the moment he still can. The Giants are going to be in rebuilding mode next year with a new quarterback and that would be a complete waste of Manning’s talent.
Shipping off Manning would be beneficial for both parties. He still has some gas left in the tank and there are plenty of teams who could use a quarterback of his caliber to elevate their team into the playoffs and beyond. The Giants would get extra draft picks, most likely high picks, and would be able to see what third round quarterback Davis Webb has to offer. Webb was drafted to possibly be Manning’s replacement. But they can’t know for sure until Webb touches the field, something he won’t do while Manning is healthy and on the roster.
It’s easy to get emotional about this. Manning has been the ultimate professional both on and off the field. He’s beloved (usually) by Giants fans and ownership alike. The 2017 season is over in terms of playoff potential and Manning is turning 37 before the start of next season. The life after Eli conversation has to be had and it should start now.
