Eli Manning had sage playoff advice for Giants QB Daniel Jones — and it sure worked
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones talks to quarterback Eli Manning on the sideline during the fourth quarter against th Jets at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 8, 2019. Credit: Brad Penner
There were a lot of mistakes the Giants made during the first three years of Daniel Jones’ career that likely stunted his development into the quarterback who just turned in the most well-rounded performance in postseason history. From the personnel around him to the coaches who were teaching him, not to mention the schemes in which he was asked to perform with both, getting him here felt a lot like living through Thomas Edison’s axiom on his own failures: “I have succeeded in finding 10,000 ways that will not work.”
Or, as John Mara said more directly around this time last year when Jones’ future was in question: “We’ve done everything possible to screw this kid up since he’s been here.”
There was one decision regarding Jones’ earliest days in the NFL that did make sense then and still does today.
Pairing him for his rookie season with Eli Manning, who was playing his last, gave Jones a template on how to be a professional in every manner of the word. It allowed him to watch how Manning handled both winning and losing, how he prepared in the days leading up to games, how he led in the locker room, and how he handled all of the burdens and benefits that come with being the starting quarterback for the Giants.
It's a mentorship that is still paying out for Jones and the team.
Before Jones' his playoff debut on Sunday in a win over the Vikings, Manning gave him what he called “a little pep talk.” It wasn’t an unsolicited one; Jones reached out to him. But Manning was more than happy to resume his role in the shaping of the player who replaced him.
“I never reach out to Daniel,” Manning said during his ManningCast broadcast of Monday night’s NFC wild-card game between the Cowboys and Bucs. “I told him, 'I'm always a resource for you. I'm here for you. I'm not going to be the annoying guy like calling you and telling you what you should do or shouldn't.’”
It's bad enough Jones has to see images of Manning’s achievements painted on the walls of the building and etched into the glass of the cafeteria every day he goes to work. It’s tough enough to live up to a beloved hero of not only of the Giants but all of New York sports, one who delivered two Super Bowl trophies winning MVP of the game each time.
Heck, if anyone knows how that feels to live in that kind of shadow it would probably be the kid brother of the quarterback many people consider to be the best to ever play the position.
Last week, Eli got that call from Jones.
They talked about the increased speed of the game (a myth, Manning told him), some strategies for coping with nerves (both his own and the rest of the team’s), and a few other tidbits of advice Manning was able to pass along.
“He reached out and was kind of like, 'Hey, first playoff game. Anything I need to know about?'” Manning said. “And I said, 'Just play the way you've been playing. You don't all of a sudden get to the playoffs and say I've got to try to change something or do something new.' I said, 'You've been playing great all year.'"
Mostly, though, it was just a trusted voice to ground him during a heady time.
Clearly it worked.
Jones not only led the Giants to a playoff win, their first since Manning hoisted the second of those Lombardi Trophies, he became the only quarterback to throw for 300 or more yards with two or more touchdowns and run for 70 or more yards in a playoff game.
The performance toggled the national conversation about Jones from general skepticism to impressed acclaim. It vaulted him from the pool of mediocrity to the stratus just below the imaginary MAB Line – named for Mahomes, Allen and Burrow – that delineates the top talents in the game from everyone else.
“Yeah, you hear some of it for sure and notice some it,” he said of his new caste. “It’s part of it. I can’t control how people respond positively or negatively, just control how I play and that’s my focus.”
To be fair, Jones gave his critics little concrete reason to believe in those first three seasons. This is the quarterback, remember, who the Giants hoped could play to this level but weren’t quite sure enough in that conviction to pick up his fifth-year option when they had the chance in the spring.
“I don’t think I’ve spent a whole lot of time thinking about that,” Jones said of confounding his doubters. “I think if there’s anything I’ve learned it’s about what you do the next week, so I’m focused on that… For any of us, it’s what you do next week and with the next opportunity.”
If the Giants win Saturday they’ll reach the NFC Championship in either Dallas or San Francisco. Win there and it’s on to the Super Bowl.
It’s a destination that is so far off (because of the quality of the remaining teams in the playoffs, starting with the top-seeded Eagles) and yet tantalizingly close (just two little wins away).
That will certainly necessitate another call from Jones to one of the only other people in the world who could fully understand the pressures, joys, pitfalls and satisfactions of what he will be experiencing should he reach sport’s biggest billion eye-ball stage for the first time.
Manning will be waiting by his phone.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
