When the New York Giants benched Eli Manning in favor of Geno Smith, some backlash was certainly to be expected. What wasn't in the plans was for the former West Virginia standout to receive death threats.

By way of Dan Duggan of NJ.com, the father of Geno Smith says he received a death threat last week, after the Giants decided to make the move at quarterback.

“I was just at work,” Geno Smith Jr. told Duggan. “I answered and he was like, ‘Geno?’ So I just listened and he was like, ‘Is this Geno?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘Your son better not start or we’re going to kill you.’ I kind of just laughed and then he hung up.”

For whatever it is worth, the family didn't inform the National Football League about the death threats. That's mostly because the dad appears to be a realist.

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“If someone was going to kill me, they ain’t going to call me and tell me,” he said.

This is obviously not a great look for people who take their fandom too seriously. Being upset over Eli being benched is somewhat reasonable. Going as far to call someone's parent to make a death threat is far less sensible.

After all, this is only football. A game.