Even if you don’t follow football, you have probably heard that the Giants have decided to bench their quarterback Eli Manning in favor of backup Geno Smith. This has been a polarizing topic since the news broke on Tuesday afternoon. Media personalties, NFL players, and fans alike have all expressed their opinions. Here is mine.

I fell in love with the New York Giants in the summer of 1998, when my father took me to my first game, a preseason matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Since that day, sitting in my Late Grandfather’s seats, I thought the organization could do no wrong, even if they were mediocre. I had no problem with subpar teams. When I first started following this franchise week to week, they were suffering from a Bill Parcells hangover, posting average to below average records year after year in the wake of their 1986 and 1991 Super Bowl victories. They weren’t the best team, but they played hard every week. They went on a hot streak and even made a Super Bowl appearance en route to a slaughtering by Ray Lewis and his Baltimore Ravens. The team was never the most talented but they didn’t quit. After their appearance in Super Bowl XXXV, they followed that up with three more disappointing seasons, and were in line to pick a quarterback in the 2004 NFL Draft. They made a trade with San Diego to acquire Eli Manning out of the University of Mississippi.

Eli took over for Kurt Warner midway through the 2004 season and struggled, but in his first full year under center, he lead the Giants to an 11-5 record, starting an illustrious career as quarterback of one of the oldest franchises in football. Over the course of his Giants tenure, he provided fans with memories that would last a lifetime. He lead his team into Dallas and knocking off the star studded Cowboys. Didn’t make any mistakes in freezing Lambeau Field in Green Bay and outdeuled the great Brett Favre. Was part of one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history and took down the undefeated New England machine, likely the best football team of all time.

He became the master of the fourth quarter. The Giants were never out of it, because Eli was under center. He became known for miraculous comebacks. Four years after his first championship he did it again. Breezing through the 15-1 packers. Got the stuffing beaten out of him in San Francisco, and just kept getting back up. At the end of the line was the New England Dynasty once again, and Easy Eli came out on top. Super Bowls don’t come easy, and Eli not only won two but was the MVP in both of them.

Fast forward six years. The Giants are 2-9, out of playoff contention. Tom Coughlin, the man responsible for coaching the Giants during their glory days was run out of town two years earlier because “the game had passed him by”. The offensive line has been non existent since about 5 minutes after the final Snap of super bowl XLVI. There were 19 players placed on injured reserve. Players on both sides of the ball in 2017 just flat out quit on plays. Maybe they didn’t want to get hurt, or maybe they just don’t care. Eli Manning showed up to work every single day, never missed a game, and put his body on the line, knowing full well that most of his team isn’t there, and the few that are seem disinterested. He has a guy in way over his head coaching the team in Ben McAdoo, and a clueless General Manager who has only ridden the coattails of his predecessor Ernie Accorsi for his entire tenure. Eli never called anybody out, even though it was probably warranted. How do the New York Giants honor their playoff hero and face of their franchise? They bench him abruptly for a guy who was cut by the Jets. They give him the option to start the first half of the game and get pulled at halftime. Not Eli. It’s just not his style to play just to keep a streak alive.

As a Giants fan, I am sick to my stomach. This man ever since he walked out onto the field at Giants Stadium has been a class act. He brought this franchise nothing but relevancy and glory. This guy has done too much for this organization to be benched for a guy who has no future in New York. He deserved a Jeter-esque sendoff. If the Giants wanted to move on from him after the season I would be ok with that, he deserves better than what this team could offer him right now anyway. I would almost be ok with it if he were being benched for someone who has a future here, but Geno Smith simply is not the guy. He doesn’t deserve is the rug getting pulled from under him by a lame duck head coach and general manager who won’t even be allowed within 1000 feet of Metlife Stadium next year.

He didn’t deserve an inept front office that let his team crumble around him. The last 5-6 years are eerily similar to how his father, Archie Manning’s career went in New Orleans. Great player but disgusting management that was not capable of building a team around him.

I call for John Mara and Steve Tisch, the co owners of the Giants to cut ties with Jerry Reese and Ben McAdoo right now and earn back some respect. Right now I can’t even look at my Giants jerseys, hats, t shirts, ticket stubs, and so on. I am so beyond disgusted and disappointed that I don’t even look at this team the same way. These aren’t the same Giants I know. The Giants who once were known for doing things the right way. The Giants where players were devastated when they were dealt somewhere else, and begged to sign a one day contract with the Giants so they could retire in Blue. The Giants that brought former defensive coordinator and current Patriots head coach Bill Belichick to tears when he reminisced about his time here.

There needs to be a regime change. The way the higher ups handled the departure of Tom Coughin and now Eli are just embarrassing. I plead to you Mr. Mara and Mr. Tisch as I write this with tears in my eyes:

Please clean house. Bring in people who know what it means to be a New York Giant, and do right by your two time Super Bowl MVP. What has gone on here is an atrocity. We can’t go on with a head coach who says anything more than “we have to look at the tape”. We can’t go on with a general manager who doesn’t know how to draft players and knows how to be accountable. Not a guy who scapegoats people who are at extremely little fault.

May have rambled a little bit, but had to get this out. I know I’m not alone in this. Thanks for reading.