Ex-New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo’s decision to bench Eli Manning, which ended the quarterback’s incredible streak of consecutive starts, proved to be the final nail on his coffin. McAdoo was fired from his post shortly thereafter and has not gotten another job in the league since.
But after months of silence, McAdoo finally explains through Peter King of NBC Sports what exactly went into that controversial decision to bench the Giants legend and acknowledges the mistakes he made during that entire situation.
“Right or wrong, I am at peace with how I handled the decision to play quarterbacks other than Eli Manning down the stretch of last season,” McAdoo wrote. “… I was not ending Eli’s career with the Giants; I was making sure we knew what we had behind him with a high draft choice prior to a big quarterback draft. I gave him the option to start the games to keep his streak alive. I understand why he said no, and he was a true pro about it. My bedside manner hurt me that week. I’m working on that. … But if there’s one thing I want fans of the Giants to know, it’s that I made this call to try to make the Giants stronger for the future. It probably got me fired, but I believe I did the right thing for the right reasons.”
Upon reading McAdoo’s reasoning of the benching, it made enough sense why the decision was ultimately made. Unfortunately, it was improperly conveyed to everyone else, which was what contributed to it being a much bigger deal than it needed to be.
Despite his fine intentions, history will now look back at McAdoo as the man who ended Eli’s streak. But McAdoo doesn’t appear to be too troubled with that fact and is ready to learn from that in order to become a better head coach if and when he becomes one again.
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