SCOTT JACOBS

The Yankees and Mets have been throwing money out at free agents all offseason.  Apparently their football bretherin, the Giants feel left out.  Not even a week after splattering all over national television in a garbage performance, the Giants are on the verge of handing Eli Manning a $120 million contract.  Now I know what you’re thinking: what kind of sick joke is this, Scott?  But no, I’m not kidding. This is a real story.

Now why the Giants would do this is beyond my level of comprehension.  $120 million over seven or eight years?  Why not just take $50 million and light it on fire?  At least that would be amusing to watch go up in flames.  You see, I’ve never liked Eli.  Not since he/his father trashed the Chargers organization back in 2004.  But this isn’t even about that.  The Giants are about to make Eli the highest paid player in football history.

Forget about money for a minute.  Is Eli the best quarterback in the game?  No!  I’d argue that if he’s top five, that even that is cutting it close.  Is Eli The Giants?  In other words, if you take him out of New York and place him in say Detroit, does he instantly make the Lions a much, much better team?  I say no.  On the other hand, take a healthy Brady or Peyton and they woud instantly improve the Lions or any other QB needy team.

Does Eli have that it factor?  You know that larger then life persona that goes beyond the field.  That superstar presence that makes him worthy of being the highest paid player in the sport?  Uh, not even close. Eli is barely even the face of the franchise.  I mean yeah, people know Eli, but do casual fans know him like say a Peyton or a LT?  Again, I say no.

Is Eli the type of player who is only going to get better?  That’s the tricky question here.  Eli had the highest QB rating (86.4) of his career in 2008.  And his touchdow numbers have been relatively consistent although they’ve gone slightly downhill lately (from 24 in 05 and 06 to just 21 this year). Another interesting point of emphasis is the interception situation.  In 2008 Manning threw just 10 picks.  But from 05 to 07 he was a big fan of tossing the ball to the other team (in fact he led the NFL in picks in 2007).  So was 2008 the start of a turnover free Eli, or just an abberation?

These are the questions my friends.

Eli is durable though.  Since his rookie year he has started all 64 regular season games, and that doesn’t include the playoffs, which he has also failed to miss a start. His completion percentage has gone up every year with the lone exception being 2007.  He’s a winner.  Since a miserable 1-6 start to his much hyped Giants career, little Manning has gone 41-23.  He’s also been a Super Bowl MVP.  Take away the 2007 playoffs though and Eli is 0-3 when the lights shine brightest (including this year’s clunker against the Eagles).

That’s the debate if you look at it through numbers.

If you look at it through common sense, then this is what I have to say: are you freaking crazy New York Football Giants?  Making Eli Manning the highest paid player in the NFL is beyond absurd.  It’s mortifying.  Before their miracle 2007 Super Bowl run, fans were ready to kick him to the curb and start anew.  Now he deserves to be paid like royalty?

Since that shaky regular season finish the Giants have gone 16-5, which is impressive, but how much of that is simply because of Eli?

Eli is a good player.  He is a hard worker, a durable guy, and it takes a lot to bring his confidence down.  But $120 million?  No way Jose is he worth that kind of money.  Do you think of him in the same breath as even Donovan McNabb?  If anything they’re close, but I don’t think Eli is better.  And not even McNabb makes that kind of dough.

The Giants want to lock up Eli for the rest of his career.  Fine.  I don’t have an issue with that. But I do have a major beef about the price they’re throwing at him, as the rest of the country shakes their head in disbelief.  The economy is in a recession, and people are losing their jobs left and right, but yeah, it makes perfect sense to shell out a buck twenty to a guy who had one miracle post-season, a pretty good regular season, and hasn’t really done anything else in his short career.

C’mon Giants!  Get a clue.

SCOTT JACOBS

It was a good game at a rather subdued Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.  One would argue that the Jaguars thought their might be more on the line going into this one, but with just a 4-10 record and having already been eliminated from the playoffs, there was no AFC South title at stake.  There was no playoff spot.  Not for the Jags at least.

But look on the other side and therein lies the red hot Indianapolis Colts.  They’ve won eight in a row after a very surprising 3-4 start.  The Colts have had a topsy turvy season by their standards, and some of their wins have been games they may not have deserved, so it was fitting that to beat the Jaguars they had to overcome an early 14-0 deficit as well as a 17-7 deficit, en route to a 31-24 win.

And it was the Colts defense, not their offense, that helped finish off the Jags.  Tied at 24 in the fourth David Garrard was picked off by Keiwan Ratliff who took it 35 yards to the house.  And just like that, the Colts were in the lead.  But holding on would not be easy, as Jacksonville drove the ball all the way to the Colts eight, after starting at their own 10.  But poor clock management, and a poor overthrow by David Garrard left the Jags with just 12 seconds, down by a score.

The Jags had no timeouts, and wouldn’t you know it, David Garrard (like Jacksonville’s Super Bowl dreams coming into this season) was sacked by Dwight Freeney and the Jaguars were unable to get off another play.  And with the win, the Colts become just the second team in NFL history to win 11+ games six consecutive seasons.  That is impressive!

So now, the Colts are in.  They join the Titans and the Steelers as the three teams who’ve already clinched an AFC playoff spot.

And boy is Peyton Manning something.  Tonight he went 29-34, for 364 yards and three touchdowns, and he just did it methodically.  He is one of those guys that you never expect to watch lose.  Because when he is on, he is in a league of his own.  And the MVP love is starting to come his way, which I think is deserved.  It had been a while since the Colts had such a difficult year (which is comical considering they now have 11 wins again), but if you look at the way they’ve struggled in certain situations and blotches of the season, it is very impressive to see the Colts back in the playoffs.

As for the Jaguars?

Well, I think one comment on an article I did earlier in the year summed it up best:

“San Diego is in a heated battle with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the NFL’s biggest disappointment of the season.”

The only difference right now?  The Chargers still are in contention for a division title and they have six wins.  The Jags, a year after winning 11, still have just four. It’s cliche I know: but what a difference a year makes.