Book of Eli; Who is truly at fault for his 25 interceptions?

I tend to have a very common argument with fans of the “Big Blue”. The argument is, of course, about former Super Bowl MVP, Eli Manning. Although he is an extremely talented QB, coming from an even more talented gene pool, my argument is that he is given far too much credit and has a tendency to be worshipped by those of the “Blue Bloods”. This year’s argument was that the majority of his interceptions were off of his receiver’s hands. I’ll admit, I’ve only watched maybe 4 or 5 Giants games this year. I’m an Oakland Raider fan who likes to torture himself on Sundays by watching the worst run team in all of sports show how much potential they have and then blow it due to horrific managerial calls and 60’s style defense. However, that’s a story for another day.

Seeing as I did not watch every Giants game, I decided to go back and watch the highlights/lowlights of all of the interceptions thrown my Peyton’s’ brother and Archie’s’ son. Here’s the results:

Week 1:

(1) Intended for Ramses Barden (Although extremely overthrown) it deflected off of Barden's hands and into the Panthers arms. ELI 0 -WR’s 1

(2) This was a perfectly thrown ball to Ahmad Bradshaw but he bobbled it directly to the Panthers defender. ELI 0- WR’s 2

(3) This throw was off of Nicks’ hands into the Panthers arms. Not a good throw, kind of left Nicks out to dry, but off of his hands regardless. ELI 0- WR’s 3

Week 2:

(1) Bad throw intended for Smith. Underthrown into triple coverage. This one is on Eli. (ELI 1-WR’s 3)

Week 3:

(1) The world famous left handed throw to Boss! No more to go any further into this one. (ELI 2-WR’s 3)

(2) I’m really starting to think differently about Hakeem Nicks. Another one directly through his hands. (ELI 2- WR’s 4)

Week 4:

NO INTERCEPTIONS THROWN

Week 5:

(1) This one was intended for Manningham, nobody told him though.

(ELI 3- WR’s 4)

(2) We have a tie! Horrible throw by Eli. (ELI 4- WR’s 4)

Week 6:

NO INTERCEPTIONS THROWN

Week 7:

(1) Terrible throw to Pascoe. Easy call. (ELI 5- WR’s 4)

(2) These are the one’s that are tough to call. It’s a horribly thrown ball that Smith has to go way out of his way for. However, it did hit his hand. I have to go against Eli on this one. Not a good throw and you know that in the locker room, he got the blame for this one and not Smith.

(ELI 6- WR’s 4)

(3) Awesome effort by Nicks. Horrific throw by Manning. It hit his hands but Jerry Rice wouldn’t have caught this one. (ELI 7- WR’s 4)

Week 8:

BYE WEEK

Week 9:

NO INTERCEPTIONS THROWN

Week 10:

(1) Easy call. Picked off by Ball. I think it was meant for Manningham but Ball barely had to move. (ELI 8- WR’s 4)

(2) TD Dallas. Manning was looking left for Nicks and it was was easily picked by McCann. (ELI 9- WR’s 4)

Week 11:

(1) Yet again, an easy INT. Bradley (The Eagles MLB) was covering Hagan an Eli threw up a jump ball. (Eli 10- WR’s 4)

(2) Asante Samuel read this one perfectly (as he so often does). Another one for Eli. (ELI 11- WR’s 4)

(3) There’s a 3^rd interception in this game. I’m not able to find the video for it. Seeing as Eli also fumbled twice in this game, I’ll give the wr’s a point for it. However it should be noted that Manning was responsible for 5 turnovers in this game. Way to step up against a rival team.

(ELI 11-WR’s5)

Week 12:

NO INTERCEPTIONS THROWN

Week 13:

(1) This was a pass thrown to the triple covered Kevin Boss. London Fletcher comes down with it untouched. (Eli 12-WR’s 5)

Week 14:

(1) This is getting ridiculous. How it can be said that all of Eli’s interceptions are off of his WR’s hands, well, it’s beyond me. Routine interception by Allen, intended for Manningham. (Eli 13- WR’s 5)

(2) Intended for Nicks, jumped by Walker. Easy interception. (Eli 14- WR’s 5)

Week 15:

(1) This throw was deflected by Tapp and picked by Mikell. Although some will say that this was not Eli’s fault, the point of this article is to either blame Eli or the WR. Seeing as it was deflected by a defensive lineman and picked by a safety, it has to go on Eli. The only reason that I even know whom it was intended for (Hagan) is because NFL network was kind enough to tell me. (Eli 15- WR’s 5)

Week 16:

(1) This one is funny. Eli threw a completion to AJ Hawk. He tried to escape the sack and threw it directly to AJ Hawk. (Eli 16-WR’s 5)

(2) Interception intended for Hagan. Picked off about 4 to 5 feet in front of him by Sam Shields. (ELI 17-WR’s 5)

(3) Nick Collins intercepted this one, as Manningham was double covered. It looked like pass interference by Shields but it would have been picked regardless. (ELI 18-WR’s 5)

(4) This was intended for Nicks. Williams looked like he was getting a punt return. Easy interception, yet again. (ELI 19- WR’s 5)

Week 17:

(1) This ball should’ve been easily caught. Manningham bobbled a perfectly thrown ball. Picked off by former 1^st round pick and Al Davis Hall of Famer, Philip Buchanon. (Eli 19-WR’s 6)

As you can see, Eli manning had thrown 25 interceptions this year. After watching the replay of every single interception, it is absolutely insane to say that the receivers were at fault for more than half of them. Even if I go in favor of Eli for the 2 controversial interceptions (mentioned above), he would still be fully responsible for 17 of them. Let’s also not forget about the interception that I blamed the wr’s for against Philly, only because I couldn’t find the video for it on NFL.com. Is it possible that the receivers ran the wrong route? Yes, it is possible. Is it also possible that the Giants receivers could have made more of an effort to get the ball on the ground? Yes, that too is possible. However, facts are facts. Sorry Giants fans, its time to admit that your holy QB is flawed.