Eli Manning to start against the Dallas Cowboys — reports

On this historic, tumultuous day for the New York Giants, the news is coming fast and furious.

The newest piece of news is that quarterback Eli Manning will once again start for the Giants when they take on the Dallas Cowboys at home this week.

After the Giants’ ownership fired their head coach and general manager, putting the team in the most unstable, uncertain, periods in their history, the Giants will be going back to one of the most stabilizing influences in recent memory.

At this point we don’t know who made the decision. It could have come from ownership, but offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan has a long history with Manning and likely wouldn’t have hesitated if the decision was left to him. Interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo also has a long history with Manning, and last week expressed his admiration for the QB.

The Giants have to hope that the move will placate, and rebuild some good will with, a fan base on the verge of out-right protest. The move also hopes to energize a locker room that now has to be utterly uncertain of its future.

It’s unfortunate that Manning’s Iron Man streak was broken only to have the coach and GM fired a couple days later, and the player reinserted into the starting line-up the next week.

It’s also unfortunate that Geno Smith lost his starting job after doing nothing to lose it against the Oakland Raiders. Smith played well enough in the Giants’ losing effort against the Raiders, enough so that Pro Football Focus graded him more highly than Derek Carr. He was bailed out at times by great catches by Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard, but it was clear that Smith is a viable starting quarterback who doesn’t deserve to be benched. But it was also clear that Eli Manning was not the problem with the Giants’ offense.

But for now, it looks like the Giants’ franchise quarterback is back under center, where he belongs.