Eli has to be better than that

LANDOVER, Md.

Tom Coughlin was making the long trudge off FedEx Field, exiting stage right after a day of bad theater, accompanied mostly by security men.

There was only one player near him: Eli Manning, wearing a matching blank stare, sharing his path and his pain.

Which was as it should be, because if the Giants coach is to find a road back to the playoffs in what looks as if it will be a challenging season, his quarterback must take him there.

It is a familiar feeling in the Manning family.

For more than a decade, big brother Peyton carried his team, to an extent that was not appreciated fully until he missed the first start of his career yesterday -- his Colts got crushed by the Texans.

Eli yesterday inherited Peyton's previous status as the NFL's reigning ironman, starting his 104th game in a row in the regular season.

That's nice. But now he must start to emulate Peyton in other ways.

No, he does not have to play like a future Hall of Famer. He does have to be more than he was in the Giants' dreary season-opening 28-14 loss to the Redskins.

Even if we set aside for now the game-turning 9-yard interception return for a touchdown by rookie Ryan Kerrigan, Manning mostly was ordinary amid some bright moments.

He finished 18-for-32 for 268 yards and an interception. He had completions of 68 and 41 yards. He headed an offense that was 1-for-10 on third-down attempts.

All in all . . . eh.

At least he only had one interception, so he is on pace for 16, down from 25 in 2010.

But that one was a doozy.

The score was tied at 14 when on the Giants' third play of the second half right offensive tackle Kareem McKenzie attempted a cut block on Kerrigan, a 6-4, 263-pound rookie out of Purdue.

Kerrigan jumped over him, tipped a throw Manning aimed at Hakeem Nicks, caught it himself and rumbled into the end zone.

Coughlin said it was a matter of the quarterback being more cognizant of his surroundings.

"That's completely awareness,'' he said. "Obviously that's a tall man that can get up in the air and elevate, and he did so.''

Manning mostly shrugged off the mistake. "We were cutting that guy; he did a good move to avoid the cut, jump up and tip it up,'' he said. "Just a good play by him. Not a whole lot I can do about that.''

McKenzie, an 11-year veteran, said, "I went to execute a cut block and he jumped up and tipped the ball. He made a good play.

"They typically don't [jump up]. They normally try to protect themselves. The kid made a great play, plain and simple. That's it.''

Fair enough. Stuff happens. But Coughlin was disappointed beyond that with the offense, which had four first downs -- one in garbage time -- in the second half and failed on fourth-and-1 and third-and-1 runs.

The latter came after the injury-riddled Giants defense forced a turnover that handed the offense the ball at the Washington 27. The possession ended with a blocked field goal.

Manning credited the Redskins with playing a "great game'' and mixing their defenses well.

But Coughlin said, "We looked disorganized. We took a delay of game again. That was totally unacceptable there.''

At age 30 and in his eighth season as a pro, Manning is who he is. Most of the time that has been good enough. But by the looks of this flawed Giants team, merely good enough might not be good enough in 2011.

Manning has to be better.