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Eli Manning was woeful last night. Michael Perez/AP/Press Association Images
Manning overboard

Now can we talk about how poor Eli Manning has been this season?

The Giants offensive struggles finally came back to haunt them last night.

THERE IS NO doubt that a vast improvement of the New York Giants defence — including holding Detroit and Dallas to a combined 13 points in consecutive weeks — contributed to turning Big Blue into a legitimate threat in the playoffs.

However, it also masked the alarming decline of Eli Manning as a quarterback.

Last night, in a 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the two-time Super Bowl winner threw a whopping 63 passes, completing just 38 for 356 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

The problem is his arm strength. While Manning is no more than okay on short passes, he’s positively terrible on long ones.

Indeed, according to NFL’s Next-Gen Stats, he threw 11 passes that travelled 20 yards or more through the air, but registered a passer rating of just 11.6 on those throws.

For context, if he’d just thrown those passes into the dirt at the line of scrimmage, his passer rating would have been 39.5.

Last night’s loss secures the NFC East for the Dallas Cowboys and the Giants must wait on results to secure their own playoff berth. However, a Wild Card spot is theirs if any of the Lions, Packers, Buccaneers or Falcons lose this Christmas.

Only the Rams and Browns have averaged fewer yards on offence since week seven this season and, if the Giants offence didn’t have Odell Beckham Jr (11 catches for 150 yards), you’d wonder if they’d just go three and out on every possession.

We know the defence is good, but how the Giants do in the postseason will be down to how Eli Manning plays.

If he’s just bad, they’ll be okay. If he’s as bad as he was last night, you’d fear for how long they will last.

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