Marc Ross calls for Eli Manning’s benching on the NFL Network

Everybody seems to have an opinion on what the New York Giants should do over their bye week and beyond.

Marc Ross, the Giants’ former VP of Player Evaluation, voiced his Tuesday morning on Good Morning Football. Ross said that the only way forward for the Giants is to bench Eli Manning in favor of rookie quarterback Kyle Lauletta.

“They can’t get worse,” Ross said. “I mean, they’re 31st, 29th, 30th, in all these stats, so they can’t get worse. You can’t get worse, so you might as well try something different and see what happens. Maybe it works out.”

Raptor’s Thoughts: Without coming out and saying it, Ross laid the lion’s share of the blame for the Giants’ season at the feet of Eli Manning and the decision to give him the chance to finish finish his career on a high note.

Like his tenure with the Giants, Ross got a couple things right and a whole lot wrong.

Make no mistake about it, Eli’s play certainly has had a hand in where the Giants currently stand. And the Giants do need to get a look at Kyle Lauletta — though it is fair to wonder if it is even remotely realistic to think the team can learn much of anything about the rookie, other than “can he take a hit?” Or, what might happen in the wake of Lauletta’s arrest on Tuesday.

However, how Ross crafted his answer also neatly sidesteps Ross’ own contribution to the state of the Giants as the man who headed the team’s college scouting department and set their draft board every year. And while Jerry Reese has taken widespread criticism for his decisions after the second round of the draft, it was Ross — and his department — who were informing those decisions with scouting reports, evaluations, and player valuations.

Truth be told, a team does not get to where the Giants are with just the decline of an aging quarterback. The Giants have had a prolonged systemic failure from ownership down which has gone one for years.

Giving Lauletta a chance to show what he has is probably in the team’s best interest for the future, but considering his own role in the Giants’ mess, Ross might not want to protest too loudly.