Peyton Manning has chosen not to comment publicly on the decision the New York Giants made to bench his younger brother Eli for the remainder of the season, and it sounds like that is for the best.
In a brief interview with TMZ this week, Archie Manning — the father of Peyton and Eli and a former NFL quarterback himself — was asked how Peyton feels about the situation with Eli.
“You don’t want to hear what Peyton said about this,” he replied.
And if you think Archie simply wasn’t in the mood to share Peyton’s thoughts, you’d be wrong. Earlier in the week, the College Football Hall of Famer chuckled when Steve Serby of the New York Post asked him the same question, noting that he didn’t feel comfortable repeating what Peyton said.
For what it’s worth, Archie defended Giants head coach Ben McAdoo.
“They’ve had a really tough year,” he told TMZ. “Ben’s doing everything he can. No one knows what goes on the next five weeks. … Ben’s a good coach. It’s been a tough year. It wasn’t his coaching that got all of these people hurt.”
There’s really no good way for the Giants to move on from Eli, and we’re guessing Peyton’s feelings on the benching are similar to those expressed by some of Eli’s former teammates. If the Giants feel like Eli has played his last snap for the team, it makes sense to essentially tank over the final five games and try to draft Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen. That doesn’t mean Peyton or any other member of the Manning family has to like it.
