Five reasons why A.J. Smith should not be blamed for trading Eli Manning
Published: 21st Feb 12 9:36 am
Manning could have been detrimental to the team
2 of 6
Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE
If a team has a player who openly states that he does not want to be a part of your franchise, it is not a recipe for success. Manning came into this league acting like a spoiled child, and teams do not need players like that on their roster.
Connect with Rant Sports
15 Rants to “Five reasons why A.J. Smith should not be blamed f...”
Leave a Rant
Agree? Disagree? Have a different opinion? Let us know what you think...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
© Copyright 2011 RantSports.com & Windy City Media Network, LLC
How sweet would it have been if Rivers prevented Eli from winning his first Super Bowl is a positive? He didn’t even make the big game, which is a negative, not positive and in reality Eli did win the the super bowl and now has added another one to his resume. How sweet would it be if Eli got to play with future Hall of Famers such as Gates and LT, with half of his games played in Sunny SD vs disasters such as Oakland, KC and Denver
The how sweet it would have been was not the title of that picture. He didn’t make it to the big game because Rivers played with a torn ACL. It’s not as though Eli doesn’t have weapons right now because he was the only quarterback during the 2011 season with two 1,000 yard wide receivers. Eli didn’t want to play for San Diego, so saying how sweet it would have been for him to play with Gates and LT is irrelevant.
Eli had two receivers with over 1000 yards because he is that good of a QB. Every year people make the, “well, Eli has so and so receiver to throw to and they make him who he is.” Well, those receivers leave Eli year after year only to do nothing for their respective teams. See: Jeremy Shockey, Plaxico, Steve Smith, Kevin Boss. The common denominator is Eli Manning. He has consistently made that Giants team better, and this year, he flat out carried them right to their second SB win in four years. Manning fully deserved the SB MVP this year. Not Justin Tuck.
And the argument about the Chargers beating Eli in SB 42 is silly. First, we didn’t even get into the SB. So that’s the most obvious fail. Second, the Giants pass rush would have eaten Rivers alive. Then Eli goes in with cold blooded efficiency and punches in the winning touchdown. It was a historic win.
I’m so sick and tired of Chargers fans crying about Eli Manning and his rejection of us. I do blame AJ Smith. He did not have to deal with that whole trade the way that he did. It was bad for everybody and the Giants made him pay. Be classless and you won’t attract classy players and winners like Eli Manning. But this was never about Eli Manning. I’m not one of these whiny types that think it ever was. It’s about the organization as a whole. Maybe if it was run in a classy way, we’d have gotten a future HOF QB like Eli Manning eager to come play for us. Think about that instead of constantly whining about rejection. If anything, I’m more frustrated about Drew Brees being let go. After all, he was OURS and we let him go. Smh. Eli was NEVER ours to begin with.
Never said San Diego would have won. I said it would have been great if they won. A healthy Rivers and a healthy LT with the Chargers match up differently than New England because they didn’t have a rushing attack to take pressure away from Brady. Maroney had 835 rushing yards which ranked 23rd among running backs in 2007 with an average of 64 yards per game. How is it a fail when the title of the picture says “They were close to playing” Maroney had 14 carries for 36 yards in the Super Bowl. LT led the NFL with 1,474 rushing yards in 2007, and an average of 92 yards per game, so I don’t see how a healthy Rivers would have been eaten alive. 2004 was Smith’s second year as general manager in San Diego, so his controversial moves took place for the most part after that. Brees tore his labrum and had rotator cuff damage, so it was highly unlikely that he would do what he’s done since then, which is why they didn’t want to pay him.
I definitely agree, it would have been controversial. The Giants really ended up lucking out in all of this.
Can you imagine if Acorsi hadn’t fallen for Manning the way he did? Things would have been completely different. Coughlin probably wouldn’t have a job right now. Giants would be the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East. It’s amazing how close that was to happening…no tickertape parades, no 4 world championships..all of it could have bee gone if it weren’t for one man’s belief, in a single player. Really amazing when you sit back and think about it…how luck the Giants are to have stumbled on to Eli Manning the way they did.
Agreed. Surprised things worked out for them
How is it luck? The Giants did not fall in to Manning, they gave up the farm to get him…Acorsi fell in love with him and made his move to get him.
Seems like all five slides are the same reason…that Eli Manning would have negatively affected the team because he did not want to play there…
The fact is, although he and his father were public about not wanting to go there, Eli is a professional and would have sucked it up. HIs attitude is not that of a spoiled brat, it only was in that one occasion (if you choose to think of it that way).
You act like Eli could not have taken over for Drew Brees..I think it is pretty clear he could have.
How bout another hypothetical? What if Eli Manning played in a warm weather city eight games a year, and in six games a year he played against the AFC West? That division is a doormat, and Eli’s numbers would be similar to Rivers’ had the places been switched.
I thank God every day for that trade, because Rivers would have never worked in New York. His attitude (wears emotions on his sleeves, yells at teammates on the field, and his overall demeanor) would have been eaten alive by the New York media…all the successful QBs in New York (mostly Simms and Manning) were cool and collected and did not falter under the media pressure…Obviously I have no idea if Rivers could have handled it…but San Diego feels like the perfect fit for him.
The only reason I chose to look at it that way is due to the fact that it’s the NFL Draft and the teams choose the players not the other way around. It’s the risk every player takes when they enter a draft. If players could choose where they wanted to go, we would probably see most players going to Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Dallas and Green Bay based on Super Bowls. Chicago and New York based on big market.. I feel like if a player is going to get millions of dollars to play a sport he loves, he should shut up and play. If a player is unhappy after not receiving playing time, or the team is struggling, then maybe that’s alright, but to come in making demands before one plays a game is wrong. This is not to pick on Eli as he made the right decision since Smith is close to running this team into the ground. I know this happened with Steve Francis in the NBA as well when he was pissed about the Grizzlies drafting him, which was wrong as well. I never said he was incapable of taking over for Brees. I said he didn’t want to go there, so they may have been forced to deal with a controversial situation.
Thanks for this fantastic post, I am glad I noticed this website on yahoo. best reseller hosting | best reseller hosting |
Thanks for reading and commenting
Mhm, nice design
.
Thank you
Your number 2 reason is just flat out excuse making. Eli–from DAY ONE with the Giants–has been nothing short of a team player and has conducted himself as a true professional. Nothing of the “spoiled child” you claim him to have been. He’s restructured his contract several times already to give the Giants cap room. He never once gloated once about winning more superbowls than peyton. And not once has he ever publicly called out any of his players.
Secondly, AJ handled the predraft meetings with Archie and Eli like an absolute amateur; the reported story goes that Archie initially had reservations about Eli being a Charger. He had scheduled a dinner meeting with AJ to go over the best scenario for both parties. As a result of these meetings, AJ discussed openly to a SD newspaper about Archie’s reserveration and how Eli wouldn’t want to play for SD, even though at that time no decision was cemented. This infuriated Archie and you combine that with how Brees was being treated and the way the organization was run, the decision to refuse playing for SD was cemented.
Eli did did act like a spoiled child. Plain and dsimple. If that’s what you and the rest of SD need to tell yourselves to get over it, go ahead. But it was AJ who acted like the classless GM that he is. Go back and read his comments just from last July about how Eli was a Charger for 35 minutes too long. 8 years later and this guy still can’t give his ego a rest. And that was 7 months BEFORE Eli won his second title. I can only imagine how much more bitter his is now.
So let me get this straight, it’s alright for someone to privately tell a gm that you don’t want to play for that team? No one who has yet to play a single minute in a league deserves the right to say where they want to or where they do not want to play. Eli is on the team he wanted to play for, so I would hope he would act like a team player. These players get millions of dollars to do something they claim to love, so it’s childish to privately or publicly say where you don’t want to play when you have yet to play in the league. Entering a draft and being selected by a team one does not have a desire to play for is a risk that all players take. Saying where one wants to or does not want to play is reserved for free agency or if a player with a no trade clause tells the organization specific teams he would wave his no trade clause for not when they enter the draft. Has A.J. botched a lot of moves since then? Sure. He has been classless towards LT and the Mannings.