Eli Manning won’t be under center when the New York Giants take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road this Sunday.
Following an 0-2 start, the former Ole Miss Rebel has been benched in favor of the Giants’ 1st-round pick Daniel Jones. The rookie out of Duke impressed in the preseason and after Manning, 38, tossed two INTs in the team’s loss to the Bills, head coach Pat Shurmur decided to make the move that many expected to occur at some point this season.
In the team’s announcement, Shurmur said that he spoke with Manning about the decision.
“Eli and I spoke this morning,” Shurmur said. “I told him that we are making a change and going with Daniel as the starter. I also talked to Daniel. Eli was obviously disappointed, as you would expect, but he said he would be what he has always been, a good teammate, and continue to prepare to help this team win games. Daniel understands the challenge at hand, and he will be ready to play on Sunday.”
This comes one day after the head coach left the door open for a change at QB during his press conference, and Manning seemed to realize that Jones was going to be the starter sooner rather than later.
“We are 0-2 and we are looking for answers, I get it,” Manning said on Monday. “When you draft a guy early and you’re not winning games, these are going to come up. I just have to keep working and do what my job is.”
Manning is completing just under 63% of his passes on the young season with 2 TDs and 2 INTs.
The 2-time Super Bowl MVP has started 232 games for Giants in his 16 seasons with the team, and his record sits right 116-116. Manning has missed just one game since taking over as the Giants’ starter in 2004 after being benched in favor of Geno Smith by then-head coach Ben Mcadoo in 2017.
Manning holds all of the Giants’ career passing records, including attempts (8,061, which places him sixth in NFL history), completions (4,860, sixth), passing yards (56,537, seventh) and touchdown passes (362, eighth).
