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From boy to a Manning

Eli’s coming into his own as a leader on and off the field

By RALPH VACCHIANO
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER


Heading into his second season in the NFL, Eli Manning is showing signs of taking a leadership role on the Giants.

The beating Eli Manning took on Dec. 12 at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens was really nothing compared to the beating he gave himself afterwards. The three hours he'd spent on the field during that horrible game were the longest of his life: Sitting alone on the train ride home, he had more time to relive them.

Kevin Gilbride, the Giants' quarterbacks coach, saw the pain in his quarterback's glazed-over eyes. So he sat down next to Manning and started a conversation that might turn out to be the turning point of Manning's young career.

"It was an ugly feeling after that game," Gilbride says. "That was about as low as you could go. I don't think I had any question about his ability or what his future potential was, but I did worry about what was going to happen to him psychologically, emotionally, spiritually.

So Gilbride spoke up. "It's time for you to say, 'Hey, this is what I can do, this is what I want to do, and be a little more assertive because we're only going to go as far as you can take us,'" he told Manning. "'We know what we want to do, but the bottom line is if you're not feeling comfortable about those things, then you need to step up and speak your mind.'"

In other words, he told the then-23-year-old rookie it was time for him to become a leader. And despite the pain of a game Manning called "disastrous ... probably the worst game I've ever played in any sport," somehow the message got through.

The rest was history, or, the Giants hope, the beginning of something historic. Manning shook off the cobwebs of his 4-for-18, 27-yard, two-interception performance (good for a 0.0 quarterback rating) in that 37-14 loss, and the next day he knocked on coach Tom Coughlin's door and initiated a frank discussion about the offense.

The next week he played the best game of his young career, nearly beating the Pittsburgh Steelers. Over the next three weeks he played like the NFL's No. 1 pick. And he even ended the season in dramatic fashion against the Dallas Cowboys by engineering a late touchdown drive for his first NFL win.

All of that is why Coughlin uses the word "hope" so frequently when he talks about the 2005 season. And that's why, for the first time since Jim Fassel left town, the Giants will report to training camp at the University at Albany on Friday believing they're good enough to contend. Some of that has to do with their beefed-up offensive line (right tackle Kareem McKenzie), their new big-play receiver (Plaxico Burress) and their new defensive leader (linebacker Antonio Pierce).

But most of it has to do with the potential they see in Manning.

"I think he's at a level now where he's proven to his teammates that when put in a position where he has to make plays in order for us to have a chance to win, he can do that," Coughlin says. "We're all excited about that."

"I think the way he ended the season last year was very promising," adds Giants receiver Amani Toomer. "Everybody's real excited about what he's going to bring to our team."

No one, of course, was excited in Baltimore that day - least of all Manning. The game was so bad his own father couldn't bear to watch it. In hindsight, Eli wishes he hadn't seen it, either.

"It was bad," he says. "They were confusing me. Even simple throws I was missing. They were moving around and doing things and I was just kind of ... I hate saying it, but I was just kind of lost."

The conversation with Gilbride on the ride home helped, but not as much as the one with Coughlin the next day. All of a sudden the coach understood what would make Manning more comfortable in the offense, and Manning understood it was okay to speak up. The results over the next three games - 53 of 87 (60.9%, 527 yards, five touchdowns, three interceptions) - spoke for themselves.

Just like that, a leader was born. And in case anyone wasn't sure, he proved it again during the offseason. He didn't spend his first NFL offseason partying, like Jeremy Shockey did two years ago. He spent most of it working and studying film. He even passed up a chance to party across Europe with teammate Jesse "The Bachelor" Palmer (Manning said he skipped the trip so he could get some more work in at home. Palmer said, "Don't let him fool you. He was at the beach with his girlfriend.")

And then there was the clearest example of his new-found leadership: He lobbied Shockey, both behind the scenes and through the media, to return from his Miami exile and join the Giants' offseason workout program. It didn't work, but the fact that the quiet 24-year-old stood his ground against arguably the Giants' most volatile player was impressive.

Shockey may not have appreciated it, but plenty of others in the organization did.

"I'm sure, to be quite candid, he never looked at it as, 'Oh, this is what I have to do as a leader,'" Gilbride says. "I think he just thought, 'I want Jeremy here because I want to work with him (and) I know there's a great potential for us to be better.' I think it was just him trying to cajole Jeremy into coming here because he felt it was something that needed to be done."

"That's just part of being a quarterback," Manning says. "If you want something you have a right to come out and tell a person you want him here."

Manning says that in his usual aw-shucks way, as if he's shocked anyone thinks it's a big deal. But it is a big deal that he's stepping out of the shell he was in as a rookie. And it's a huge deal that his teammates and coaches can actually tell how he feels about things.

That wasn't always easy last year. It was so hard, in fact, that veteran quarterback Kurt Warner - the man whose job Manning took in Week 10 - gave Manning a T-shirt as a Christmas gift that changes colors depending on his mood.

Does it work? "It would if you could see it," Gilbride says. "But he keeps it covered up."

In some ways, of course, it's good that he covers up his emotions. In tough spots, the Giants would prefer their quarterback be cool and calm, the way Manning was during that final drive against the Cowboys. He blocked out all the pressure, his 0-6 record and the anxious crowd, to lead the Giants on a six-play, 66-yard touchdown drive for a 28-24 win.

But sometimes a team needs its leader to open up. That's the point Gilbride was trying to get across on the train.

"He is never going to stand up and be Jim Kelly," Gilbride says. "That's not him. He doesn't want to be that way. But, little by little, within the parameters of his personality, you see him begin to assert himself in a very Eli Manning way."

Will it all pay off? That's the biggest question the Giants will have entering the 2005 season. Can Manning turn all this promise into good play? There is certainly precedent. Gilbride points out how Mark Brunell, under Coughlin, increased his completion percentage, yardage and touchdowns (though his interceptions went way up, too) from his first year to his second in Jacksonville. He also led a team that was 4-12 during his first season to a 9-7 record and the AFC Championship Game.

Then, of course, there's Peyton Manning's performance in Indianapolis. After a pretty good rookie year in 1998, he shot up in nearly every statistical category in 1999. His team, which was 3-13 during his rookie season, finished 13-3.

That kind of a turnaround might be a lot to ask of Eli Manning, after what Coughlin calls his "painful but priceless" rookie season. After all, he only completed 48.2% of his passes, topped 200 passing yards just once in seven starts, and half of his six career touchdown passes came in his last game.

Still, Coughlin says, "I do believe that we're prepared for Eli to make the next step."

Says Manning: "I expect this season to be better than last year. I'm not expecting for me to be at a level that some other quarterbacks are playing, but I expect me to play better, make better decisions, be more accurate, and for everybody to be better at our job and what we do."

"It's a gradual thing," Gilbride says. "But there's a significant difference between the first and second year."

5 Fearless Predictions


Here are five things the Daily News' Ralph Vacchiano forsees for Tom Coughlin's Giants this summer:


1. Plaxico Burress will not be Eli Manning's main preseason target, with the receiver still learning the playbook. With Amani Toomer working his way back from his torn hammy, look for the Giants QB to be most comfortable throwing to the speedy and healthy Tim Carter.


2. As usual, a RB wearing No. 27 will have a great camp - only this time it'll mean something. With the old No. 27 (Ron Dayne) gone, big rookie Brandon Jacobs will become the short-yardage battering ram the Giants desperately need.


3. Jeremy Shockey will get off to a slow start. He may be in the best shape of his life, but he missed some valuable practice time with his QB. They may be fine when the season starts, but it'll be a while before he and Manning are on the same page.


4. No one will complain about Tom Coughlin - at least not publicly. They all got that out of their system last year. Besides, now they're convinced he's kinder and gentler. Either that, or they've realized complaining about him won't change him.


5. Jesse Palmer will win this summer's backup QB battle. He's a Coughlin favorite and he has a year head start on Tim Hasselbeck in learning the playbook. That'll be enough to let him open the season as Manning's backup.