If his last name weren't Manning...

...he wouldn't be starting. Ok, that's probably a tad harsh, but it does have a certain truth to it. Since he was drafted by the Chargers and traded to New York Eli Manning has far from lived up to the expectations of many both inside of the Giants organization and outside among the media and fans. Although this isn't too terribly surprising, he did have 6'5" 230 lb. laser-rocket arm shoes to fill, maybe. Some, namely Tiki Barber, suggest that his poor leadership in the form of "comical" pep talks, is what is holding him back from becoming an elite QB. However, another common angle is that his throws aren't always the most accurate, and he is especially prone to overthrows, which is at least based in real statistical measures of game charted data, and not a blatent attempt to make controversial statements to be successful as an analyst. As a part of the "Two Deep Zone" series, Mike Tanier seems to have spotted another possible reason for Eli's habitual failure, the inability to read defenses and react accordingly. In summary, Eli sees a very similar play twice within the same game, an overoad zone blitz, but misreads and makes a similar mistake on both plays, the second of which gives the Eagles six points and seals the game. This part of Eli's game is as critical to his success as a passer as both accuracy and speech giving skills.


This is the kind of thing I hope to be doing more of within the blog, bringing together a couple of articles on related topics or pointing out interesting developments, hopefully making the NFL (and eventually college basketball) more enjoyable for everyone, well, not like there is much room for improvment, but I'll try.