Shaun O’Hara: Giants “wasted” prime of Eli Manning

Eli Manning helped put Super Bowl rings on the fingers of Shaun O’Hara and Justin Tuck. Saturday night at the Landon Collins Charity Softball Game, both former New York Giants showed they still have Manning’s back, agreeing that the organization has “wasted” Manning’s talents the past few seasons.

"They've wasted the last few years of Eli's career, they've wasted his prime," former center Shaun O'Hara said. "It's been hard to sit and watch that happen. I'm glad to see that they found a way to correct it, but Eli can still play the game."

Tuck seconded O’Hara’s remarks.

“I agree with him,” Tuck said of O’Hara’s opinion. “We all know what Eli can do when he is healthy and when he has comparable athletes around him. I don’t think he had those. Anything other than that, you are just lying to yourself.”

Valentine’s View

This is an opinion I agree with, and have been stating for years myself. Manning has his flaws, and at times has had to share in the culpability for some of the negative things that have happened, everyone should recognize that. I have long said, though, that with Manning at the helm the Giants should have done more winning over the past six seasons.

One playoff game in six years with a quarterback of this caliber, the most prolific in franchise history, is simply inexcusable. You can point to bad games, bad throws and bad fumbles by Manning over the years, but the view here has always been that the Giants have let Manning down far more than he has let them down.

As O’Hara indicated, the Giants have finally made major changes to try and get back on the right path The big question now is whether or not it’s too late for their long-time franchise quarterback. Manning looks spry and is throwing the ball really well this spring. But, it’s still June. He’s 37. Will he still be able to throw those lasers in the Meadowlands winds in December? How long can he remain healthy?

We’re going to find out. Unfortunately, though, the Giants can’t get back all that time that they wasted.