The 2018 New York Giants team has captured the attention of a number of former players, both from the Giants and other franchises. 2007 Super Bowl champion receiver Amani Toomer is no exception. Toomer talked to the New York Post, about the Giants struggles in 2017 and what the team looks like going forward into 2018.
Specifically, he talked about Eli Manning and the big difference between last year and this year. “The fact that he hasn’t really had the offensive line, it seems like sometimes he tries to make things happen and I just see him pressing,” Toomer said.
The statement that Manning didn’t have an offensive line is mostly correct. The Giants front office certainly agrees with it, as fans can expect four or five of the starters on the line to be different from they were last year. The team brought in Nate Solder and Patrick Omaneh, and drafted Will Hernandez, to fix that problem.
They also spent the second pick on Saquon Barkley, which leads into Toomer’s next statement. “With a solid running game, it’s not all going to be on him. I pointed to what John Elway did the last couple of years with the Broncos when they brought in Terrell Davis and it really helped him be a better quarterback because he wasn’t forced to do everything. You’ll see [Eli] having more time, looking down the field, not being rushed and throwing the ball all over the place.”
Toomer’s predictions about how Manning will perform better with more support from the running game and offensive line are close to many fan predictions going into the season, and it’s only a few weeks before we’ll get to see how accurate they are. The Giants will play their first preseason game on Thursday, when they take on the Cleveland Browns at home.