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| E-GIANTS By
DAVE KLEIN If Eli Manning isn't an enigma they need to change the definition of the word. He is everything that makes up the meaning of the word. He is at once brilliant and disappointing, competent and clumsy, more than promising and more than disappointing. He has thrown thousands of passes since last season ended, and in case you were overwhelmed by the fact that the Giants made the playoffs, their final record for the 2006 season was 8-9. That's kind of an enigma, too. Well, this is going to be Eli's year -- one way or another.Either he is going to turn the pro football world on its head and become the next coming of, well, his big brother, or he is going to live in the annals of this often troubled franchise as a major disappointment. Will he join the list that includes Phil Simms, Y.A. Tittle, Fran Tarkenton and Charley Conerly? Or will his name be found on that list hanging on the wall behind the house with names such as Glynn Griffing, Dave Brown, Jim Del Gaizo, Randy Dean and Jerry Golsteyn? It should sort out this season, for one astounding reason -- the Giants just can't wait much longer. Is it possible that this player, son of Archie and brother of Peyton, this player who cost the Giants a first round draft pick and a third round pick in 2004, a first round draft pick and a fifth round pick in 2005, might actually be moved? You know, that's polite NFL talk for traded or released or waived or cut. He is in the fourth year of his recently adjusted five-year contract (it was six originally) and its total worth was something in the rather aristocratic neighborhood of $54 million. The other day at a practice, Manning dropped back and threw a long pass to wide receiver Sinorice Moss. The ball just flew -- once it developed webbed feet and wings and a long neck with a beak attached. It was, in another form of NFL parlance, a wounded duck, and this time the players did something they have not done yet. They made fun of it. How? By quacking in Eli's direction. Now THAT'S embarrassing, and it produced a chorus of delighted laughs, but the prank could not have sat well with the coaches, from head coach Tom Coughlin to offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride to the new quarterback coach, Chris Palmer. Whether they say it or not, Eli's lack of consistency and steady progress is a source of great concern to the coaches and the front office. It's not quite like buying a Rolls-Royce and finding out it was made with parts from an abandoned Yugo, but you get the point. Eli is their franchise quarterback, their quarterback for the foreseeable future, and he is not doing very well. Oh, sure, there have been the flashes, during which he has looked as good as any quarterback has ever looked, and that's saying a lot. But these flashes never last long enough, and then he sinks back into the abyss of confusion and bewilderment while the coaches sweat and the owners start contemplating whether to count -- and cut? -- their losses. Eli still seems to have mechanical difficulties, such as setting up properly when he drops back, such as still throwing off his back foot, or throwing in an almost sidearm fashion. You would have thought those glitches would have already been ironed out, but those who unconsciously resist coaching will remain, for lack of a better word, uncoachable. The most intriguing aspect of this five-day-old training camp has been the dramatic emergence of the least expected backup, Jared Lorenzen. Right, that's the Hefty Lefty, or the Pillsbury Doughboy, or J-Load. He has heard them all, he doesn't care and he shrugs it off. "I am just a big person," says the 6-3, 285-pounder entering his third season. His throwing arm has the power of a cannon, and his velocity is best described as laser-like. There is also some irony involved in the presence of Lorenzen on the Giants' roster. He was an undrafted free agent, signed by the team early in May following the 2004 heraldic acquisition of Eli's rights from San Diego. Lorenzen had attracted tons of attention as a college player -- at the University of Kentucky, where he gained 10,354 yards as a four-year starter for the Wildcats. He accumulated 78 touchdown passes and holds six NCAA records. In his senior season, he was second team all-Southeastern Conference (that's the SEC). The first team quarterback was a kid from the University of Mississippi. Yeah, Manning. This past April, two weeks prior to the draft, the Giants signed their "new backup quarterback," the well-traveled and sometimes-starter Anthony Wright. He was going to provide the first source of help on the depth chart based on his eight years of experience. But guess what? Lorenzen has been the best quarterback in camp so far, and that includes Manning, Wright and Tim Hasselbeck. Go figure. Is there any real chance that Lorenzen can win the job? No, none at all. But he might fool the world and continue on as the backup quarterback, the job he held last season -- not that it mattered, since he never threw a pass in a real game. But the signing of Wright might have been to land a third-team quarterback, and this will probably not affect Hasselbeck's situation -- he was thought to be the odd man out and he still is. The change of mind might only be in the identity of the backup. Meanwhile, the coaches are fervently wishing to see the emergence of "the real Eli Manning" sometime soon. So are the players. And in a real and valid sense, so are the fans -- many of whom questioned the deal in the first place, others who were thrilled to have the next star quarterback on their team and others who were simply not sure of what the Giants -- and retired general manager Ernie Accorsi -- had actually done but were willing to sit back and wait. The time for waiting is at an end. This is Eli Manning's season, no matter how it turns out. Check
out Dave's website at E-GIANTS
where you can subscribe to his newsletters which
run much more frequently than what is available here. NEW - Send a request to davesklein@aol.com for a free week's worth of news!
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