Giants coach Ben McAdoo has no plans to pull Eli Manning for Davis Webb, but . . .
Eli Manning of the Giants throws a pass against the Seahawks at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 22, 2017. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Ben McAdoo is sticking with Eli Manning.
“Eli is our quarterback,” he said on Monday. “I have 100 percent confidence in Eli.”
But if the Giants continue down this path of despair and wind up with a very high draft pick next spring, it would seem irresponsible for them to make a selection without knowing what they have in third-string rookie quarterback Davis Webb.
Although McAdoo said whether Webb plays this season will be a “coaching decision,” there certainly would be franchise-wide ramifications to that decision that would need to be discussed.
“It’d be something that if it would ever get to that point, I’d want to have a conversation with Jerry [Reese, the general manager] and ownership on it,” McAdoo said of playing Webb this season. “But it’s not to that point and I don’t see that point coming.”
Manning, who has started 206 consecutive regular-season games for the Giants, said on his weekly WFAN radio appearance that he expects to continue that streak.
“I want to be out there each and every week for my teammates,” he said. “It’s important for me that if I can play and if I can help the team and play well enough to win the game, I’m going to be out there. My mindset is to do whatever is best for the team and what will give us wins. I have a job to do and I’m going to do that to the best of my ability.”
Webb has been inactive for every game — Geno Smith has been the game-day backup — but Webb works with the scout teams in practices, helms the “opportunity periods” for younger players during the week and goes through an extended workout on the field before every game.
Sticking with Rosas
Aldrick Rosas missed a field goal for the third time this season on Sunday, this one with a chance to tie the score at 10 in the fourth quarter.
“I let the organization down, I let all the fans down, I let the whole team down,” a dejected Rosas said after the game.
He is 7-for-10 this season, a percentage that ranks 25th in the NFL among kickers with at least five attempts. Even at a stage when the offense is struggling and points are at a premium, though, McAdoo said he is sticking with the first-year kicker.
“I see him kick on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “He’s a young player that is improving. He missed a kick, we want to have that kick. It ties the ballgame in the fourth quarter. He needs to learn from it, he needs to grow from it. [But] I have a lot of confidence in Aldrick.”
Giant steps
McAdoo offered no concrete updates on some of the players injured Sunday, including OL Justin Pugh (back), DE Kerry Wynn (knee) and LB B.J. Goodson (ankle). “We’re fortunate to get the bye when we got the bye,” he said. “We’re just going to have to see how guys respond. We have a week of treatment to see if we can get healthy.” . . . McAdoo said he still was waiting for a response from the NFL on his request to clarify the simultaneous possession ruling on a Seahawks touchdown Sunday that appeared to be an interception in the end zone by Landon Collins. “We won’t get that until later in the week,” he said.
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.
