The Giants are going to a West Coast system. Their quarterbacks coach the other day was even popping off about Eli Manning completing 70 percent.
Such things are easy to say in training camp. Actually making them happen on the field, however, becomes a lot more problematic.
Manning has been a good quarterback for a lot of years, and he’s done so by tending to make risky throws downfield. He’s one of the better quarterbacks at hanging in the pocket and then making the big strike downfield.
What the Giants are talking about is completing rebooting one of the league’s better quarterbacks. That’s rare.
Manning has never completed 63 percent in a season. Now he’s going to move up to around 70?
It looks unlikely.
In the last 10 years, 34 quarterbacks have completed at least 1000 passes. Only four of those quarterbacks have completed a lower percentage of passes than Manning. But only seven average more yards per completion.
| COMPLETION PERCENTAGE (last 10 years) | |
|---|---|
| Quarterback | Pct |
| Peyton Manning | 67.2% |
| Drew Brees | 66.9% |
| Chad Pennington | 66.1% |
| Aaron Rodgers | 65.8% |
| Kurt Warner | 64.9% |
| Tony Romo | 64.6% |
| Philip Rivers | 64.4% |
| Matt Schaub | 64.0% |
| Tom Brady | 63.9% |
| Matt Ryan | 63.7% |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 63.3% |
| Brett Favre | 63.1% |
| Jon Kitna | 62.6% |
| Carson Palmer | 62.6% |
| David Garrard | 61.8% |
| Marc Bulger | 61.6% |
| Jay Cutler | 61.0% |
| Matt Hasselbeck | 60.5% |
| Jason Campbell | 60.3% |
| Donovan McNabb | 60.3% |
| Joe Flacco | 60.2% |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 59.8% |
| Chad Henne | 59.5% |
| Alex Smith | 59.5% |
| Matthew Stafford | 59.5% |
| Jake Delhomme | 59.4% |
| Matt Cassel | 59.0% |
| Sam Bradford | 58.6% |
| Kyle Orton | 58.5% |
| Eli Manning | 58.5% |
| Josh Freeman | 57.6% |
| Michael Vick | 57.3% |
| Kerry Collins | 55.5% |
| Mark Sanchez | 55.1% |
| YARDS PER COMPLETION (last 10 years) | |
|---|---|
| Quarterback | Avg |
| Michael Vick | 12.52 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 12.44 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 12.41 |
| Donovan McNabb | 12.34 |
| Philip Rivers | 12.23 |
| Tony Romo | 12.12 |
| Tom Brady | 12.07 |
| Eli Manning | 12.07 |
| Jake Delhomme | 12.02 |
| Matt Schaub | 11.92 |
| Jay Cutler | 11.85 |
| Josh Freeman | 11.79 |
| Peyton Manning | 11.77 |
| Mark Sanchez | 11.76 |
| Matthew Stafford | 11.76 |
| Kerry Collins | 11.61 |
| Kurt Warner | 11.58 |
| Drew Brees | 11.54 |
| Joe Flacco | 11.53 |
| Carson Palmer | 11.52 |
| Marc Bulger | 11.47 |
| David Garrard | 11.42 |
| Kyle Orton | 11.33 |
| Matt Cassel | 11.28 |
| Matt Hasselbeck | 11.28 |
| Jon Kitna | 11.22 |
| Matt Ryan | 11.21 |
| Brett Favre | 11.19 |
| Chad Henne | 11.14 |
| Jason Campbell | 11.07 |
| Alex Smith | 11.01 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 10.80 |
| Chad Pennington | 10.73 |
| Sam Bradford | 10.72 |
—Ian Allan