{"id":1162,"date":"2007-01-29T13:08:44","date_gmt":"2007-01-29T18:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/oh-brother\/"},"modified":"2007-01-29T13:08:44","modified_gmt":"2007-01-29T18:08:44","slug":"oh-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/oh-brother\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh Brother"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey, Brother<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Tim Sullivan
WagerWeb.com<\/a> contributing writer<\/p>\n

Eli Manning <\/strong>is a world away from where his brother, Peyton<\/strong>, is. Sure, they both made the playoffs, but Peyton won three games and advanced to Super Bowl<\/a> XLI. Eli? He was gone, it seemed, before the tournament even started.<\/p>\n

But in New York, a story’s a story. And this week — with not much going on except the dysfunctional Knicks losing games left and right in the Big Apple — Eli’s thoughts on his brother’s run became one of those stories.<\/p>\n

So the Giants cooperated, and he graciously spoke with the media.<\/p>\n

“I was excited for Peyton. I know everything he\u2019s been through, being another player who is going through the same things and has been to the playoffs and been disappointed,” Eli said. “I\u2019ve only been twice, and he\u2019s been a number of times and has been through it. It\u2019s tough. The road they took to get to the Super Bowl, having to beat Kansas City, Baltimore, who was
\nplaying about as good as anybody, and New England, who is as good in the playoffs as anybody. To win those three games and to get to this position, it\u2019s a tough deal, and I\u2019m just excited for him. I know how hard he\u2019s worked.”<\/p>\n

Eli works just as hard, or so we think. It would help, of course, if his receivers — Jeremy Shockey <\/strong>and Plaxico Burress <\/strong>— went through the same offseason program with him. Perhaps a better chemistry would evolve. But those two combustible parts choose to train at the University of Miami, while Manning, for the most part, works with backups in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

“I still have a lot of time to try to get my opportunity to get down there,” Eli said of making the big game. “I want to be on the other side and not have to be down in Miami going to events and things like that.
\nI want to be in the hotel studying film and getting ready to play for a championship.”<\/p>\n

He may get his chance. It may not be with Tom Coughlin <\/strong>at the helm, but he may get there nonetheless. But he won’t do it alone. The Giants need a clear-cut workhorse running back to replace Tiki Barber<\/strong>. They have Brandon Jacobs<\/strong>, but he’s more unproven than Eli is. They need a more reliable secondary. And they need a healthy group of linebackers.<\/p>\n

Right now, they have none of that.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s what you play for,” Eli said. “That\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s on players\u2019 minds as they play through the season, is to try to win games, to try to get into the playoffs and then, from there, you try to get to the Super Bowl and win a championship.”<\/p>\n

Peyton has his opportunity against the Bears and he’s a 6.5-point favorite on WagerWeb.com<\/a> to cash it in.<\/p>\n

Eli, well, he has to wait.<\/p>\n

MIKE’S MESSY MIX IN JACKSONVILLE: Mike Shula <\/strong>didn’t get the Dolphins’ head coaching job, but he made it to the NFL nonetheless. Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio <\/strong>brought Shula in to be the quarterbacks coach this week, and immediately, he has his work cut out for him.<\/p>\n

Shula, of course, is no stranger to messy situations considering the probation-laden program he assumed at Alabama. But what he’ll do with David Garrard<\/strong>, who started 10 games last season, and Byron Leftwich<\/strong>, who started
\nsix? Who knows.<\/p>\n

EXTRA POINTS: <\/strong>Safety Rodney Harrison <\/strong>may not fit in the Patriots’ plans next season. He is oft-injured, he is 34, and he stands to make $2.7 million next season. That’s a recipe for a release when Bill Belichick <\/strong>is your head coach. … Despite rumors to the contrary, disgruntled Raiders wide receiver Jerry Porter <\/strong>appears to be in the mix for next season as Coach Lane Kiffin <\/strong>reworks the offense. Porter demanded a trade during the brief Art Shell <\/strong>Era, Part 2.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey, Brother By Tim Sullivan WagerWeb.com contributing writer Eli Manning is a world away from where his brother, Peyton, is. Sure, they both made the playoffs, but Peyton won three games and advanced to Super Bowl XLI. Eli? He was gone, it seemed, before the tournament even started. But in New York, a story’s a … Continue reading Oh Brother<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press_releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}