Eli Manning gets a pass in tonight’s preseason opener instead of throwing one.
The Giants’ starting quarterback is one of a handful of players the team announced will not participate in Friday night’s game against the Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. All of the others are due to injuries; Manning is a coach’s decision.
“I made the decision not to play Eli tonight,” Ben McAdoo said in a statement released by the team on Friday morning. “We have a pretty good idea of what Eli can do, and as I said the other day when asked, Ryan [Nassib] is going to play a lot of football for us this preseason. And that starts tonight. We will also get Logan [Thomas, the third-string quarterback] some work, as well.”
This is the first glaring departure in game management from Tom Coughlin, who would regularly play Manning in the preseason opener and sometimes sit him in the fourth preseason game when he was head coach the past 12 seasons. It is not uncommon for teams with established starting quarterbacks to keep them out of the preseason opener. Last week, before the Hall of Fame Game was cancelled, the Packers and head coach Mike McCarthy – a mentor for McAdoo – decided not to play Aaron Rodgers in their game against the Colts.
As for the other Giants not playing there are no surprises. WR Victor Cruz (groin) has missed the last two practices and will not participate. Nor will LB Keenan Robinson (groin) or DE Kerry Wynn (groin). Both of them missed practice time this week with their ailments. LB J.T. Thomas (hamstring) and DT Jay Bromley (ankle) remain on PUP and will not play.
For the Dolphins, CB Chris Culliver, CB Xavien Howard, RB Kenyan Drake, CB Chimdi Chekwa, TE MarQuis Gray, LB Zach Vigil, G Vinston Painter, DT Earl Mitchell and DE Farrington Hugeunin did not travel to New Jersey and have been ruled out for the game.
..... - Newsday