Former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber believes new head coach Pat Shurmur allows Eli Manning to do what he does best.
Throughout his career, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has worked with a number of different offensive coordinators. Therefore, he’s been the front-man of a number of unique offensive schemes. During the Tom Coughlin and Kevin Gilbride era, Eli and the Giants were able to play downhill, physical football. More play-action; more I-formation running plays.
However, during the Ben McAdoo era, from 2014-2017, things began to change offensively. Eli was operating more out of the shotgun than he ever had. The play-action became less and less a part of the offensive scheme. Manning eventually had a chance to speak on this exact concept with former Giants running back Tiki Barber.
“Eli you are so much in the shotgun these days,” Barber said on Good Morning Football. “When I was there, when Brandon Jacobs was there, you dot the I, you run downhill.” Eli responded with a statement that almost every fan and player could agree with. “Our offensive line just hasn’t been good and I need those extra three steps,” he said.
With injuries to multiple guys such as Weston Richburg and Justin Pugh through the years, Eli’s response is indeed factual. The low performance of Ereck Flowers since he entered the league in 2015 never helped either. However, Eli will now be able to play under a new offensive scheme under new head coach Pat Shurmur and new offensive coordinator Mike Shula. This also includes a newly-improved offensive line, with now left tackle Nate Solder along with rookie guard Will Hernandez.
Barber also recognizes the great things having a guy like running back Saquon Barkley can now do for Eli and the Giants. “Now that they have Saquon Barkley, I think this offense is going to significantly change,” Barber said. “They’re going to hand it off and that will make Eli’s job a lot easier.”
The Giants were recently given an over/under odds of 7.5 wins by Vegas experts, showing that an improvement is definitely recognized. However, we can only wait and see if this new offense will actually produce on the field for Big Blue.
