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The New York Giants have had quite a run under quarterback Eli Manning. They’ve won half of their four Super Bowls in franchise history with him under center. However, he hasn’t led the team to a playoff win since their last Super Bowl triumph in 2011. And a couple of former Giants stalwarts believe that has been a major failure of the franchise.
Shaun O’Hara, who was Manning’s center from 2004-2010, thinks the Giants “wasted” the prime years of Manning's career by surrounding him with inferior talent during those lean years.
“They’ve wasted the last few years of Eli’s career, they’ve wasted his prime,” O’Hara told NJ.com. “It’s been hard to sit and watch that happen. I’m glad to see that they found a way to correct it, but Eli can still play the game.”
Former Giants defensive end Justin Tuck agrees with O’Hara’s assessment of how the organization has handled Manning’s peak years.
“I agree with him,” Tuck said of O’Hara’s opinion. “We all know what Eli can do when he is healthy and when he has comparable athletes around him. I don’t think he had those. Anything other than that, you are just lying to yourself.”
While it’s true that Manning hasn’t had the best teams to work with over the last few years, he shouldn’t be completely faultless in the Giants’ recent lack of success. The very best quarterbacks are still capable of making the most of what they have and at least get their teams to playoff contention. Manning just hasn’t been able to do that consistently enough.
But with Manning’s limitations in mind, the fact that the Giants got two Super Bowl rings with him as their QB should be deemed a success despite the last few disappointing seasons.
