At times it is baffling to hear the rhetoric, innuendo and breathless analysis of all things Eli Manning. It is as if he is the first top-notch professional athlete — an icon within the franchise and the city he lives his football life — to get older, show signs of decay and not perform the way he did years before.
Manning at 37 has not fallen of the cliff. He can function as an NFL quarterback. But increasingly, he needs help and support and protection, and when that fails around him, he cannot rise above it and lead the Giants where they need to go.