Giants pull plug on Eli; to start rook QB Jones … The writing appeared to be on the wall yesterday when Giants head coach Pat Shurmur declined to commit to having Eli Manning start this weekend’s game at Tampa Bay and this morning. And this morning the Giants announced that rookie QB Daniel Jones, the 6th player selected at the 2019 draft, would in fact be the starter when they face the Buccaneers on Sunday. It will be only the second time that Eli hasn’t started for the Giants since he took over the job early in the 2004 season. That, of course, was the botched experiment to have veteran journeyman Geno Smith start ahead of Eli that ultimately cost G.M. Jerry Reese and then head coach Ben McAdoo their jobs. This time, though, barring injuries, the change looks to be permanent as the Giants move on from the 38-year-old Manning. In fact, Jones clearly outplayed Manning in the pre-season when the former completed 83% of his pass attempts and likely would have been named the starter over just about anybody but the venerable Manning who lead the Giants to the 2007 and 2011 super Bowls and still has considerable support among the team’s fan base.
