PHILADELPHIA — There was no Houdini escape from a sack, no Hail Mary to land on David Tyree’s helmet, no Lombardi Trophy waiting for him to hoist at the end of the night.
And for a while, there didn’t have to be.
Because Eli Manning tried with all his heart to give himself, and his Big Blue army of fans, a memory for the ages.
On the night he tried to take everyone back to the future and showed up for one precious quarter somehow, some way, as SuperMann.
On the night he tried to light a fire under a downtrodden team and franchise that lived in fear of tying a historic nine-game losing streak that the 1976 Giants would take to their graves.
On the night he tried to throw embattled Pat Shurmur a lifeline, and throw a lifeline to Manning loyalists who wondered whether the Giants would have lost eight straight games with ‘Ole Eli.
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Alas, the night ended sadly for ‘Ole Eli, ended the way too many seasons since Super Bowl XLVI have ended for him, this time with a 23-17 OT defeat, ended with a 116-117 career record, ended on the night the Shurmur Giants made the worst kind of history.
“That’s not something you want to be a part of,” Shurmur said.
It ended with ‘Ole Eli watching helplessly from the sideline as Carson Wentz toyed with a collapsing Giants defense that yet again could not make a stand, ended with Zach Ertz all alone catching a 2-yard TD pass.
It ended with a kiss outside the Giants locker room from his beautiful wife Abby.
“She came early on in my career, she kinda said she would never come back to a Philly game — fans can be kinda rough in there,” Manning said, “but she thought she had to kinda break her rule and come to this one.”
Asked why, Manning said: “Well, I hadn’t played in three months, you know? And you don’t know if I’m gonna play again. So I think it’s pretty obvious why it was important.”
In another time, Manning would have marched the Giants to the winning touchdown, or winning field goal at the end of regulation.
He and Darius Slayton (five catches, 154 yards) had been magic in the second quarter, but a 17-3 lead had become 17-17 when Manning took the ball at his 25 with 1:53 and three timeouts remaining.
He had stopped finding Slayton, targeted him only twice in the second half, had stopped converting third downs (2-for-12) when the Eagles switched to zone to prevent the explosive plays, could not keep his reeling defense off the field.
But here was one last chance to silence a howling Linc.
And Slayton, shut out in the second half, dropped his third-down pass against man coverage.
And a fairy tale ended.
Maybe ‘Ole Eli (15 of 30, 203 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs) could have hung on for dear life with the ’86 Giants behind him, but with this group, you cannot afford a 4-for-11, 24-yard second half.
“Second half offensively did not do hardly anything,” Manning said. “We gotta score some points in the second half.”
There ‘Ole Eli had been earlier, thrusting his arms skyward, looking as if he was dancing on Cloud 10 as he skipped downfield as teammates congratulated him on his way to congratulate Slayton.
Because Slayton had just caught a second TD pass from Manning, this one a 55-yard blast from the past he caught in stride past Ronald Darby, giving the Giants their 17-3 lead with 27 seconds left before intermission and had the Linc boo birds howling.
Eli Dimes.
“Felt good with what we were doing, in a good rhythm,” Manning said.
“Thought that would have kept us going throughout the second half, but unfortunately just couldn’t find it in the second half,” Manning said.
Slayton was 11 years old when Manning won his first Super Bowl, 15 years old when Manning won his second.
New York Post
STEVE SERBY
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Eli Manning fairy tale died with Giants’ historic ineptitude
By Steve Serby December 10, 2019 | 12:15am | Updated
PHILADELPHIA — There was no Houdini escape from a sack, no Hail Mary to land on David Tyree’s helmet, no Lombardi Trophy waiting for him to hoist at the end of the night.
And for a while, there didn’t have to be.
Because Eli Manning tried with all his heart to give himself, and his Big Blue army of fans, a memory for the ages.
On the night he tried to take everyone back to the future and showed up for one precious quarter somehow, some way, as SuperMann.
On the night he tried to light a fire under a downtrodden team and franchise that lived in fear of tying a historic nine-game losing streak that the 1976 Giants would take to their graves.
On the night he tried to throw embattled Pat Shurmur a lifeline, and throw a lifeline to Manning loyalists who wondered whether the Giants would have lost eight straight games with ‘Ole Eli.
Alas, the night ended sadly for ‘Ole Eli, ended the way too many seasons since Super Bowl XLVI have ended for him, this time with a 23-17 OT defeat, ended with a 116-117 career record, ended on the night the Shurmur Giants made the worst kind of history.
“That’s not something you want to be a part of,” Shurmur said.
It ended with ‘Ole Eli watching helplessly from the sideline as Carson Wentz toyed with a collapsing Giants defense that yet again could not make a stand, ended with Zach Ertz all alone catching a 2-yard TD pass.
Eli ManningCharles Wenzelberg/New York Post
It ended with a kiss outside the Giants locker room from his beautiful wife Abby.
“She came early on in my career, she kinda said she would never come back to a Philly game — fans can be kinda rough in there,” Manning said, “but she thought she had to kinda break her rule and come to this one.”
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Asked why, Manning said: “Well, I hadn’t played in three months, you know? And you don’t know if I’m gonna play again. So I think it’s pretty obvious why it was important.”
In another time, Manning would have marched the Giants to the winning touchdown, or winning field goal at the end of regulation.
He and Darius Slayton (five catches, 154 yards) had been magic in the second quarter, but a 17-3 lead had become 17-17 when Manning took the ball at his 25 with 1:53 and three timeouts remaining.
He had stopped finding Slayton, targeted him only twice in the second half, had stopped converting third downs (2-for-12) when the Eagles switched to zone to prevent the explosive plays, could not keep his reeling defense off the field.
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But here was one last chance to silence a howling Linc.
And Slayton, shut out in the second half, dropped his third-down pass against man coverage.
SEE ALSO
Nothing can save the Giants from themselves
And a fairy tale ended.
Maybe ‘Ole Eli (15 of 30, 203 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs) could have hung on for dear life with the ’86 Giants behind him, but with this group, you cannot afford a 4-for-11, 24-yard second half.
“Second half offensively did not do hardly anything,” Manning said. “We gotta score some points in the second half.”
There ‘Ole Eli had been earlier, thrusting his arms skyward, looking as if he was dancing on Cloud 10 as he skipped downfield as teammates congratulated him on his way to congratulate Slayton.
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Because Slayton had just caught a second TD pass from Manning, this one a 55-yard blast from the past he caught in stride past Ronald Darby, giving the Giants their 17-3 lead with 27 seconds left before intermission and had the Linc boo birds howling.
Eli Dimes.
“Felt good with what we were doing, in a good rhythm,” Manning said.
“Thought that would have kept us going throughout the second half, but unfortunately just couldn’t find it in the second half,” Manning said.
Slayton was 11 years old when Manning won his first Super Bowl, 15 years old when Manning won his second.
SEE ALSO
Darius Slayton's magic with Eli Manning quickly disappeared
Manning had 179 yards passing at halftime and Slayton had 154 of them.
All of New York, and every romantic in America, had already been cheering earlier, and Big Brother Peyton Manning was shown cheering in a suite when Little Brother, from the 35, threw short to Slayton, Darby missed the tackle at the 28, and in the blink of an eye Slayton was in the end zone.
And ‘Ole Eli Manning had himself his 363rd TD pass.
The next time he had it, there was this beautiful bomb down the left sideline good for 42 yards to Slayton, against Darby. Field goal.
“Whatever reason, we can’t put the game away,” Manning said. “I think today that’s on us on the offense.”
Still, after 12 weeks gathering rust watching Daniel Jones, he deserved better. ‘Ole Eli learned what Jones has learned: when you are the quarterback of a team that has fallen and can’t get up, it is impossible for you to be SuperMann.