Giants news, 10/13: Francesa — “garbage football;” Simms — Eli done as top QB

Good morning, New York Giants fans! The 1-5, drama-ridden, Giants are an easy target for critics these days. On Friday, WFAN’s Mike Francesa and NFL analyst Phil Simms were among those taking aim.

Francesa: “Half a decade of garbage football”

Known for his epic rants, Francesa opened his Friday show by lambasting the Giants. He said they “stink,” have “become a bad football organization” and have produced “half a decade of garbage football.” Here’s more:

“The Giants won three games last year. They’re 1-5 this year. If you take out the 11-5 [2016 season], they had three losing seasons before that. Do the math,” Francesa exclaimed. ”Over the last five years, the Giants have stunk. That’s the math. Over these years, they haven’t either come close to the playoffs, or when they did go to the playoffs, win a playoff game. They have done absolutely nothing.

”This once proud franchise has become one of the real laughingstocks of the NFL. The Giants- if you start with the last game in the playoffs from the 11-5 season, and you go 0-1 there, then you go 3-13, and then you go 1-5 ... the Giants have won four- four!- of their last 23 games. That’s 4-19. 4-19 in the NFL is garbage! That is at the bottom of the league! That is Cleveland Browns territory, and that’s what the Giants have become.”

Honestly, it’s hard to disagree with any of that.

Simms: Eli done as a big-time QB

Speaking with host Chris Russo on his Sirius XM Mad Dog sports radio channel, Simms was frank in his assessment of Eli Manning. Russo asked him if Manning was “done as a big-time starting quarterback.”

Simms’ response: “As a big-time starting quarterback? Yes. OK, when you phrase it that way, as a big-time starter he is. Here’s how I look at it. I’ve said it many times during the offseason. The Giants built this team for this year for Eli Manning to have success. That’s what they did. They re-did basically the whole offensive line. They’ve signed Odell Beckham, Jr. They bring in an offensive coach, the defensive coach. Everything was there. They draft Saquon Barkley, which is a great deal. We saw the kid can be great, we know that. So it’s all set up. Sterling Shepard, a good second receiver. Evan Engram, we know he’s hurt, but it’s all there because we want the quarterback to do well, and it’s not working out.”

Russo also asked Simms whether Manning or the offensive line should get more blame.

“Well, it’s always a combination. The line has not been great. But, you know, the last couple of weeks there’s opportunity to stand there and throw the ball. I gotta tell you I’m disappointed in a few things. One, they’re not getting the football down the field. There have been opportunities they’ve passed up. That’s one. The other is they’re not moving the quarterback even close to what I – and you’ve heard me say this – but they’re not moving him enough,” Simms said. “I mean, you can’t just drop back in the NFL and stand there. And there’s got to be more deception.

“The last and most important, I watched Phillip Rivers this week, I watch Tom Brady every week, I watch all these guys every week. And I’m watching Phillip Rivers going, ‘Look at him.’ Now, I know he has a better line and he’s got a set of really terrific receivers. But he is scrambling, outside the pocket, moving, he’s great in the pocket moving. Tom Brady is truly great in the pocket. And I just don’t see that enough from the Giants with Eli and that’s a big problem.”

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