Eli Manning has taken more than his share of blindside hits during a 16-year career.
But he still is smarting from the one that came Sept. 17, when he was benched for rookie quarterback Daniel Jones after the Giants started 0-2 for the sixth time in the last seven years.
As he prepares to make his first start since then in place of the injured Jones on Monday against the Eagles, Manning told Giants’ in-house media he understood from the time Jones was drafted “if we didn’t get off to a fast start, there was a chance this would happen.