Pat Shurmur opened his Giants career by backing Eli Manning, Giants franchise quarterback with two Super Bowl rings to show for his efforts.
Smart man.
Likely buoyed by the show of support, Manning expressed excitement to get to work with his new, offensive-minded head coach.
"(I'm) just excited to see how he calls games, how he looks at defenses, how he wants to pick them apart and just seeing his insight to that and learn from it," Manning said, via the New York Daily News. "So we can see things the same way, have great communication and figure out how to score some points."
Manning's performance didn't exactly help -- 352-of-571 passing, 3,468 yards, 19 touchdowns and 13 interceptions -- but neither did the amount of injuries suffered by the Giants, especially in the receiving corps. At one point in the regular season, New York was relying on Roger Lewis and Tavarres King, because Odell Beckham, Brandon Marshall and Sterling Shepard were all unavailable. Things fell apart quickly and never really came back together.
Shurmur earned the job largely by what he proved he can do with even a career backup at quarterback. Shurmur's Vikings offense finished 10th in the league in scoring (23.9 points per game) on the arm of Case Keenum, who posted a line of 325/481, 3,547 yards, 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. With all due respect, moving from Keenum to Manning is like trading in a Honda for a Cadillac.
With an offseason to mend and re-envision the offense under Shurmur, a bounce-back season should be expected from the Giants. Another campaign like 2017 simply isn't tolerable for this group, even with offensive line issues still needing addressed.
"I'm here to work," Manning said. "I'm here to learn and be studious and learn from him and just get the offense and the plays that he wants to run and do it his way. That's the best way to have an offense be successful."
Shurmur believes in Manning as much as the quarterback does in the coach. We'll see if that jolts New York's offensive heart into beating again.
