The NY Giants have taken on the weak identity of their leader, Eli Manning. And as a result, they are no longer winning games.

You ever work with a boss you love … or hate … or think is weird … or anything of those sorts?

Professional sports is just like any job industry in America.

Sure, it doesn’t feel that way because of the hype and attention it receives from the media.

But real people are involved. With real emotions. And real personalities.

When the NY Giants were winning Super Bowls with Eli Manning as their quarterback, they also happened to have a core of veteran leaders around him.

The likes of Michael Strahan, Amani Toomer, Antonio Pierce, Shaun O’Hara, Justin Tuck, Antrel Rolle, David Diehl, Brandon Jacobs and many others.

Their leadership allowed Manning to just blend in and play his game.

We know that Eli isn’t a rah-rah kind of player. He likes to lead by example and say few words.

That works when you are surrounded by others who provide a legitimate leadership presence.

But over the last five years or so, the Giants have become “Manning’s” team, as those players have retired.

There hasn’t been a consistent veteran presence other than himself in years.

And fittingly, the Giants have struggled.

Since 2013, the Giants are 34-50 during the regular season, with the just one playoff appearance.

For years, they were built around the persona of being a “smash mouth” football team.

Known for either running the football well or getting after the quarterback.

Even when Eli put together an MVP-like 2011 campaign, a year in which the Giants won the Super Bowl, people were still giving credit to the defense.

Why?

Because people identified the Giants with players like Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul, Osi Umenyiora, Rolle, Linval Joseph, Corey Webster and others.

The Giants were actually the league’s 27th best defense that season.

But the way people talked about them made it feel like a defensive-led team.

Which wasn’t true at all.

The Giants had built their reputation around being tough. Even if that meant completely ignoring Manning’s success.

But that has changed.

The Giants have now developed a weak identity.

One without a plan. One where the offensive line is blamed for everything. One where the quarterback fails to take any risks whatsoever due to the fear of making mistakes.

It’s soft.

The exact opposite of how they won championships with him as their quarterback in the past.

And it’s not like the Giants have lacked talent on the defensive side of the football over the last few years.

Guys like Pierre-Paul, Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison, Janoris Jenkins, Landon Collins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Dalvin Tomlinson aren’t scrubs by any means.

In fact, one could make the argument that the Giants entered last season with the most talented defense in the NFL.

But because of the identity they have built, nobody really took notice.

From “Manning memes” to phantom sacks to saying things like “risks are not what you want to take,” Eli Manning has helped shape a weak Giants culture over the last five years.

Until a change of mindset occurs, or a new quarterback is drafted, nothing will change.

Sorry to tell ya.