The New York Giants are rallying around Eli Manning, and it might spur a playoff run.
Manning this season has completed just 55.6 percent of his passes for 11 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, and a 68.5 quarterback rating.
Manning has led the Giants to two Super Bowl championships, and has never been one to throw his teammates under the bus.
Those same teammates are now coming to his defense. Giants outside linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka told the Newark Star Ledger that the “Giants defense needs to carry Eli Manning the way he’s always carried them.”
“You can’t just look at him and say, ‘Oh, he’s the reason (for the team’s struggles this season),” Kiwanuka said Tuesday on his weekly radio spot on ESPN. “I have no doubt in my mind he’s going to get it turned around and start putting up the numbers that we’re used to seeing.
“But until that happens we have to be able to take it upon ourselves as a defense and say, ‘You know what, he’s carried our butts when we weren’t getting it done for a number of games, a number of seasons even, so we have to make sure we can do the same for him while he’s going through it.'”