July 3rd, 2012 
Jeremy Fuchs 
Posted in Greg Cosell has posted a column about Eli Manning. It’s worth reading in full. Here are a few excerpts:
In 2011, I saw significant improvement in two other elements of Manning’s game: progression reading and pocket movement, with the corollary ability to extend plays outside the pocket. We all remember the 38-yard completion to Mario Manningham late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI; it was the single biggest play in the game. It also reflected many of the attributes that I have often written about, beginning with pre-snap recognition of the coverage.
It was Cover 2, with both New England Patriots safeties split, each responsible for one deep half of the field. The initial read for Manning was to the right, the two-receiver side. (Manningham was the single wide receiver to the left of the formation.) When Eli hit his plant step in the pocket, the routes to his progression side (the right) were not defined. He did not have a clear picture. There was no throw. Manning knew he had Manningham on the back-side fade. It was the safety to that side, not the corner, that he had to beat to make that throw.
Remember all this is happening instantaneously, within a three-second time frame. Without any hesitation, Manning pulled the trigger. It was the throw that made that play far more than the catch. He dropped the ball right into Manningham’s hands, in the only spot that made a completion possible.
And:
The other part of Manning’s game that dramatically improved in 2011, and I believe it was a defining reason as to why he had his best season yet, was his efficiency moving both within the pocket and outside the pocket. As I’ve discussed numerous times, pocket mobility is an essential trait to perform consistently at a high level. Manning, once a little frenzied and out of control when he was forced to react in response to the pass rush, is now more poised and composed. His movement is more deliberate and calculated. His downfield focus is sharper, with better clarity. In addition, his ability to extend plays on the perimeter was particularly evident last season. In years past, there were times Manning would be somewhat scattershot with his throws off movement. That deficiency has been lessened, and it’s led to better overall play. It’s a huge reason why Manning elevated his game in 2011.
Well I was all excited to read Cosell had written something on Manning as I love his work. I gotta say, if you’re a attentive Giants fan, there’s not much to learn in there.
The bit that seemed the most interesting was “Manning has been outstanding controlling the Giants running game.”. Cosell goes on saying it’s often overlooked but is guilty as well, never coming back on the subject.
An article about Option routes.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/option-routes-why-drive-receivers-crazy-233247212–nfl.html
No mention of the Giants (except in “the week before a Super Bowl XLVI loss to the New York Giants” …) but we do use them so always interesting.
That’s one of the reasons I think Cruz won’t be a 1y wonder : he understands option routes, coverage reads. Something Manningham never seemed to.
Manning and Gilbride gave him lots of leeway in 2011 in his route running. And he was a 2nd year UDFA …
You hit it pretty good. Cruz gets it, he studied his playbook and understands it. Poor Eli has suffered through many receivers on the Giants who did not. That’s why I have said the loss of Manningham was no big deal, he never understood the playbook. I wonder how many times he ran the wrong rout, I’m aware of many but I’m sure there where a lot more.
Shockey used to do it all the time.
Eli and Cruz seemed to click right away, some receivers and quarterbacks do. It’s a timing thing. As a musician I have noticed the same thing, with some players you can never get it together with others it’s an instantaneous connection and you make music.
The Giants do a lot of coverage reads, I think all their pass plays have them, at minimum most. Even Nicks at first made a lot of errors but cleaned it up now. Moss, Manningham and a host of others never got it.
This is one reason I think Randle will make an immediate impact. From what I understand he gets it and understands what he has to do.
Yeah, losing Manningham right now isn’t a big deal, but they need to lock up Nicks and Cruz to long term deals or it might be in the future. I’d like to be confident that they will, but you’re never quite sure with the Giants. It worked out well with SS12 and Boss, but just like how the Eagles always gave up on players and let them walk for cheaper alternatives through the years, it eventually caught up with them forcing their hand on an irresponsible (and ultimately unproductive) free agent frenzy last year. While I don’t see the Giants being as lax with their money, I would like to see them make the necessary moves to keep winning. Lock up Nicks and Cruz now.
I need some help over here
I’ll be in NY for the season opener and I’d like to attend the game. I’m not sure I understand how the purchase of NFL tickets work though.
On NFL.com/tickets, no NYG tickets are for sale (“Tickets aren’t available at this time”) while all other teams have them available. Yet Stubhub or Gotickets or whatnot have a few but they won’t be shipped before august 32st or so which is obviously too late as I won’t be home …
Does anyone know Alliancetickets.com ? They have some available and they email them which would work for me.
The Ticketmaster NFL Ticket Exchange is usually your best bet for tickets, there’s also StubHub and other options as well, I never heard of Alliancetickets.com but I would try to find out if they are NFL sanctioned if I were you, if so any problems would at least lead to a refund of your money, if not, you could be out of luck.
If you buy through stub hub in my experience you can get the ticks emailed to you as well. There should also be some season pass holders on some of these sites that could probably help a brother out, if they cant make it. Or the option is always to just show up at the game there are always scalpers no matter how big or small the game is. Good luck it is a great stadium. I have not been to many but it is hard to believe there are much better places to watch a sporting event around the world. Get there.
Thanks to the both of you.
I’ll have another look at StubHub. Weird though that there are no tickets on NFL Ticket Exchange yet.
Toomer said he rather have Romo than Eli. Looks Like I am moving his jersey from my closet to the basement with plaxico, barber, shockey, smith and others.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8134031/amani-toomer-says-tony-romo-better-quarterback-eli-manning
Seriously what’up with those guys ?
You can throw Strahan in there too now. Toomer always seemed fair and smart in his declarations about the Giants, I’m disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong, Romo is a very good and consistent QB. We all know about the brain farts in big moments but overall he’s special.
Yet there’s isn’t one QB it’d take over Manning right now.
Yeah I was just reading that article on NFL.com.
Toomer is a little girl, always complaining about his old team. I’d rather have quite a few QBs over Romo let alone Eli. Romo is a choke artist. Say what you will but I see a new franchise QB in Dallas in the next 2 years.