The Eli Manning Era Comes to an End, New York Giants to Start Geno Smith

The New York Giants shocked the sports world on Tuesday by deciding to start Geno Smith against the Oakland Raiders. With that decision, Eli Manning’s consecutive starts streak and an era of Giants football come to an end.

The New York Giants may have just topped the Buffalo Bills for the most surprising quarterback decision this season. Big Blue announced that they will start Geno Smith against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, replacing Eli Manning.

According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, the Giants gave Eli Manning the option of starting the game to keep his consecutive starts streak alive before being pulled for Smith or Davis Webb, but he declined.

Props to Eli for not continuing his streak just to continue his streak. As he has his entire career, Manning has too much honor and integrity to tarnish the NFL record book.

What can’t be tarnished are the two Super Bowl rings Manning won, or the two Super Bowl MVPs that came along with them. No one can take away the 50,625 passing yards and 334 passing touchdowns that Manning has accumulated over his career.

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For 14 seasons, Eli Manning has been the epitome of durability and accountability. He made 210 consecutive starts and was named to four Pro Bowls.

Even when Manning didn’t play well, he took it on the chin. Playing in New York is not easy. The media are tough. But Eli handled every win and every loss with grace, humility, and composure.

There have been many fans calling for Davis Webb to get a shot, which he will now eventually get, but fans need to appreciate what they had in Eli Manning for the past 14 years.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve yelled at my TV screen many times, calling for Manning to get off the field. But when you look at the quarterback situations for the New York Jets over the past decade, or the Buffalo Bills, or even worse, the Cleveland Browns, you should realize just how lucky we as Giants fans are to have had a franchise quarterback like Eli Manning.

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Unfortunately, the Eli Manning Era came to an end on Tuesday, but what an era it was. Thank you, Eli. We really do appreciate you.