The Giants season has crumbled in front of our eyes. They are now 1-6. They have traded starting CB Eli Apple. Wednesday, they traded starting defensive lineman Damon 'Snacks' Harrison. It now looks like a fire sale and a team ready to get a top 5 pick in the NFL Draft.
David Diehl was a big part of a Giants offensive line that won two Super Bowls. Those days seem like a long time ago. This year's Giants offensive line has been a disaster and it's trickled down to the entire offense. Diehl joined WFAN's Mike Francesa Wednesday to talk about the offense and Eli Manning, who he is not giving up on.
"When things are great and he's throwing a touchdown pass, 'oh he's so cool, calm, and collected under pressure.' When things don't go right, 'he doesn't show any emotion, look he's got that look on his face.' He's the same person and he's the same even keel guy throughout," Diehl told Francesa on WFAN Wednesday. "As a quarterback, especially here in New York, you have to have that mentality. If you're not a loud vocal guy, you can't fake it, people can see right through that. Eli will get into the offensive line...'hey, we need to get this together.' He will get on a wide receiver, who runs the wrong route and doesn't do the right thing.
When I sit here and talk about Eli Manning, he needs to play better, we all know that. When I talk about him as a football player, people are going to say 'oh well you blocked for him, he's one of your friends, you're just saying this to protect him.' He's got to hit OBJ on that ball. He's got to hit it on the goal line. That's the first read. You got to get him that football.
In fact, Diehl believes Manning isn't finished just yet.
"I know he's getting crushed right now...'oh, he doesn't have it anymore.' Believe me, there's football left to be played. He has football left to be played. He's got to play better. At the same time, if you protect him and have a run game, that's where he's deadly. When Eli showed up in Green Bay for that game, playoff Eli was there. When you put him in those situations, Eli is automatic. "
You can listen to the entire interview above.