Eli Manning was excited about the Giants’ 2026 season…before disastrous Monday Night Football loss to Rams
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Eli Manning was excited about the Giants’ 2026 season…before disastrous Monday Night Football loss to Rams originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Eli Manning was all in on the John Harbaugh era in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Monday afternoon when I got the chance to speak with the two-time Super Bowl-winning former New York Giants quarterback.
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Manning was in great spirits about his GMEN heading into their Week 2 matchup with the Los Angeles Rams. Big Blue had beaten the Dallas Cowboys 28-20 in Week 1 at MetLife Stadium, and Manning felt the energy shift at his old stomping grounds.
“I'm so excited for this. I think Harbaugh's done a great job of coming in and changing the culture. Everybody knows where they stand, what their job is, and [they] are being held to a very high standard of what he expects from each player and each person in that building,” Manning told me.
“I was so impressed with Week 1 of how they played. The stadium was rocking, and they were fired up. I think they feel the energy, they feel the change, and they were rewarded with a great win (against the Cowboys).
“They’re still a young team, and they got to figure out how to win in different ways. You never know what kind of game it's gonna be each week and what it's gonna turn out to be, high scoring, low scoring. Or if we're running well or we're not running well, we got to throw it. So, it's gonna change up week to week.
“The best teams are the ones that can adjust and figure out there are ways to win the game in whatever form the game has to be played.”
Manning was helping to promote King’s Hawaiian’s new “Best Slider in Football” campaign, which is petitioning to have the slide be counted as an NFL stat.
Before Week 2, the sky was the limit for New York. The mood shift on Monday night during a 28-6 loss in LA, after Jaxson Dart suffered a leg injury and Malik Nabers suffered a shoulder injury, was palpable, though.
Giants face uncertain future after disaster strikes on MNF
Eli’s face on the Monday Night Football ManningCast as Dart was taken off the field told the story. Dart was injured as the Rams pass rush converged on him.
Eli and Peyton’s faces at some of Jameis Winston’s throws in relief duty only further solidified the doubt the younger Manning brother was wearing.
The Giants’ hopes for the 2026 season may rest on Dart recovering quickly. While Nabers returned to the lineup before the game ended, he caught one pass for one yard on four targets.
We’ll see if Harbaugh can keep up the excitement for his arrival by keeping the team competitive in Dart’s absence.