Sky’s the Limit for Eli Manning in New Giants’ Offense

Eli Manning – © USA TODAY Sports Images

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It’s one of the more commonly-asked questions at Giants’ training camp. Nearly every reporter has taken their shot at getting a different answer variation, all have kept their eyes peeled when it’s been displayed on the field.

How’s Eli Manning look in Ben McAdoo’s new West Coast Offense? What are the realistic expectations for the upcoming season?

Well, according to Manning and quarterback coach Danny Langsdorf, it seems the sky’s the limit.

“We’d love to be up there at 70 percent,” Langsdorf told The Star-Ledger’s Conor Orr. “It hasn’t been done very often. So that is the ultimate goal. We’d like to raise his completion percentage for sure. I don’t know about the history, maybe the Giants took more shots downfield, but I think there are different things that lead to that completion percentage but we’d love for him to shoot for 70.”

Manning didn’t hold back when asked the same expectation. In fact, he and Langsdorf agreed to the same near identical number.

“The high 60s is kind of the goal, to be in the top of the league,” Manning told NJ.com’s Jordan Raanan. “Sure it’s realistic. It’s a combination of the offense and the players we have.”

If Manning reaches lofty completion percentage expectation, it would not only be a vast improvement over last year, but a career high as well. In his 10 NFL seasons, Manning has never completed better than 62.9 percent of his throws. From 2008 through 2011, he completed over 60 percent. That number has dropped over the last two years, with Manning completed 59.9 in 2012, and 57.5 last year.

While Giants’ offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo didn’t call the plays in Green Bay, he worked on an offensive staff that continually had quarterback Aaron Rodgers near the tops of the league in accuracy. Rodgers has completed over 65 percent of his passes every year since 2010.

But 70 percent? That number has only been reached five times before. Drew Brees (71.2), Brees again (70.6), Ken Anderson (70.6), Steve Young (70.3) and Joe Montana (70.2) are the only signal callers in NFL history to reach that high.

At 33 years old, Can Manning do it? Fan discussion in The Corner Forum.