Abby Manning, the wife of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, broke their cardinal rule and was in attendance for his return.
On Monday night, Eli Manning started at the quarterback position for the New York Giants for the first time since Week 2. Rookie Daniel Jones has been the starter for much of this season. However, the first-year player suffered a high ankle sprain and is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.
Thus, Manning took on the starting duties in Philadelphia with his wife Abby watching from the booth. Why is this unusual?
Apparently, Abby stopped coming to games in Philly earlier in Eli’s career. But due to the situation, she broke their cardinal rule and sat in the booth with Olivia, Archie and Peyton Manning.
Eli Manning's wife Abby broke her rule about never coming back to Philadelphia for an Eagles game. This one was important.
"I hadn't played in 3 months, and you don't know if I'm going to play again" pic.twitter.com/i6JUwNwaqE
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) December 10, 2019
“She came early on in my career. She kind of said she would never come back to a Philly game. Fans can be kind of rough in there,” Manning said. “But, she thought she had to break her rule and come to this one.”
Reporters then asked Manning why this game was different than the other ones at Lincoln Financial Field.
“I hadn’t played in three months, and you don’t know if I’m going to play again,” he said. “I think it’s pretty obvious why it was important.”
Eli finished 15-for-30 with 203 yards and two touchdowns in the 23-17 loss to the Eagles. Both scores were to rookie wideout Darius Slayton, who played his first game with the longtime quarterback.
Injuries sidelined Slayton for the first two weeks of this year, both of which were games that Manning started.
There’s a good chance Manning could receive at least one more start against Miami next week unless Jones’ ankle heals quicker than expected.
