Perhaps It's Time To Let Eli Manning Go

OK, let's all just get together and agree on this, so we don't have to unduly pick on the guy: Eli Manning isn't any good. Like, at all. Obviously, his last name has offered him "potential" status long past the expiration date, but we think all of us, along with Eli himself, would be a lot happier if all just accepted Eli's lousiness and moved along. He'd finally be able to move ahead with his squash career.

For all the talk of Manning's supposed "turnaround" season, his numbers are actually quite atrocious. He's 24th out of 25 quarterbacks in efficiency rating, he's first in interceptions and his overall stats are actually worse than they've been the last couple of years. Sure, last week was a particularly high-profile meltdown, but this is going to get worse before it gets better.

We are reminded of Michael Lewis' great story on Eli in from three years ago. It contains this section:

Giants fans are understandably worried that the kid might be overpaid. But because Eli Manning is the son of one legendary quarterback and the brother of another, the question they want to ask is more personal than usual. Yeah, he had a great college career, but did this kid get here on his own merits, or is he the N.F.L.'s first legacy admission? Did Ernie Accorsi — who was sitting up there in his glass box at Giants Stadium, tense as a snare drum, not wanting to speak to anyone — see something others missed? Or did he just commit the biggest blunder in the history of the N.F.L. draft? The Giants players pretend that nothing special is happening, but they fool no one. If Eli Manning is a bust, their team is in trouble, for many years. Ernie Accorsi is in trouble. Tom Coughlin is in trouble. A lot of careers are suddenly on the line.

And so ... here we are.

Eli Manning Is Entertaining [Rumors And Rants] The Eli Experiment [New York Times] I Wish Everyone Had Listened When I Said My Favorite Sport Was Squash [Kissing Suzy Kolber]