E. Manning's Education Begins

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Atlanta Falcons were clinging to a seven-point lead in the final minute of the third quarter Sunday at Giants Stadium and they needed to force a mistake by the New York Giants' rookie starting quarterback, Eli Manning. The Giants already had gotten Manning's first NFL touchdown pass earlier in the quarter to cut Atlanta's 14-point advantage in half, and they were driving again. The Falcons' offense had gone dormant, so it was up to the defense to find a way to win.

It did. On a second-and-five play from the Atlanta 28-yard line, the Falcons blitzed two linebackers. They wanted Manning to see the linebackers coming and make a "hot read,'' and try to get the ball quickly to wide receiver Amani Toomer on a slant route in the area vacated by the linebackers. What they didn't want Manning to realize was that it was a zone blitz and, while the linebackers were rushing, defensive end Brady Smith was dropping into pass coverage, right into the space where the Falcons knew Toomer was probably headed.

Manning took the bait, and his throw went straight to Smith for an interception. The Giants squandered that scoring chance and some others down the stretch, and the Falcons held on for a 14-10 triumph in Manning's first NFL start.

Afterward, Manning admonished himself for that gaffe and others.

"Obviously that's the purpose of that blitz, to get me to make that throw,'' said Manning, the top overall choice in April's college draft. "You can say that's a rookie mistake. But I should have known that anyway.''

It just goes to show, however, that there is a steep learning curve for an NFL quarterback, even a member of football royalty, picked first in the draft, traded to the team of his choosing and signed to the richest rookie contract in league history.

"He just needs to play,'' said Giants Coach Tom Coughlin, who made Manning the starter a week ago by announcing that he was benching veteran Kurt Warner.

Manning's performance Sunday was about middle-of-the-road for a prized young quarterback making his initial start. Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Ben Roethlisberger has skewed the grading curve by winning his first eight starts this season, but Manning's outing was about what was to be expected.

He connected on 17 of 37 throws for 162 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. He put his arm strength and raw ability on display at times. But there were mistakes. The Giants wasted a pair of timeouts in the third quarter because of play-calling confusion. Manning had a throw intercepted in the final seconds of the second quarter when Falcons cornerback Jason Webster stepped in front of intended receiver Ike Hilliard. "He hurried that throw right before the half,'' Coughlin said.

But no harm was done. Webster's interception set up a 46-yard field goal try by Falcons kicker Jay Feely, but he sent it wide left.

Manning inherited a Giants team that was struggling, with its pass-protection deficiencies beginning to become glaring and its defense getting increasingly short-handed because of injuries. That puts him in a far tougher position than Roethlisberger, whose club has the league's top-ranked defense, a reliable set of blockers, dangerous receivers and a top-notch running game. The Steelers won at Cincinnati on Sunday even when Roethlisberger played like a confused rookie, being sacked seven times. The Giants aren't good enough to be able to win like that when Manning shows his youth and inexperience.

Coughlin tried to help Manning on Sunday by ordering short, quick-hitting passes to counter an Atlanta pass rush that had produced seven sacks against Tampa Bay the week before. Manning's receivers did him no favors in the first half, dropping a half-dozen passes. But Manning blamed only himself.

"I knew I had to throw the ball better,'' he said. "There were some drops. But they were on bad throws. Those throws were a little bit behind guys. As the game went on, I got a little bit better, a little bit more comfortable. . . . It's a learning experience. I'll come in [today] and watch the tape and try to learn from my mistakes. I made a bunch. . . . I got so worried about not taking sacks and making quick decisions, I got a little too rushed at times. . . . I was confident I could make those throws. I just had to settle down.''

But Coughlin and other Giants players said there was plenty of blame to go around.

"I thought Eli played great,'' tailback Tiki Barber said. "He made some good decisions and when he had a pressure environment, he responded well. . . . I wasn't worried about Eli. When they were competing in the summer, he was pretty much even with Kurt Warner. We have a lot of good offensive players on this team, and it's up to us to make more plays and help Eli to succeed.''

Manning's 45.1 passer rating Sunday is better than those achieved by Terry Bradshaw (19.3), John Elway (0.0) and Troy Aikman (40.2) in their first NFL starts. It isn't far from the 58.6 passer rating posted by his older brother, Peyton, in his first NFL start for the Indianapolis Colts in 1998, when he threw for 302 yards but had three interceptions (and one touchdown pass) in a 37-21 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Eli Manning became the 10th of the 14 quarterbacks chosen first overall in the draft in the last 34 years to lose his first NFL start.

The Giants had their chances in the fourth quarter Sunday. They had to settle for kicker Steve Christie's 24-yard field goal with about 6-1/2 minutes to play after driving to a first down at the Atlanta 7-yard line. They backed up the Falcons on the ensuing kickoff, and looked like they would get the ball back in great field position with just less than five minutes to play after a third-down incompletion by Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. But Giants linebacker Carlos Emmons was called for a highly questionable roughing-the-passer penalty to keep the drive going, and the Giants eventually got the ball at their 26 with 1 minute 52 seconds to go.

"Had we not had that penalty, I think we would have had the ball at midfield,'' said Coughlin, who later refused to criticize the call publicly by telling reporters: "You can't get me in jail. Privately, that's something I'll have to wrestle with. I know one thing: It was a huge, huge momentum play in the game.''

Still, Manning said he should have taken advantage of his opportunity for final-minute exploits. "It's disappointing we didn't come out with the win,'' he said. " . . . We had a shot to win that game, and the offense only scored 10 points. . . . It's the position you want to be in as a quarterback -- you want to have the ball in your hands with a chance to win the game.''

Manning got the Giants into Atlanta territory, but his fourth-and-three pass for tight end Jeremy Shockey -- who had three first-half drops but caught Manning's six-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter and finished with a team-leading five receptions for 45 yards -- was broken up by Falcons linebacker Keith Brooking. Brooking said the Falcons defenders knew that Manning would be looking for Shockey in crunch time.

"I think everyone in the stadium knew and everyone watching on TV knew where he was going,'' Brooking said. "We heard that [Shockey] was kind of his go-to guy, that they're kind of tight off the field.''

The Giants lost for the fourth time in five games, evening their record at 5-5 after a 4-1 start to the season. They're four games behind the first-place Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East, and suddenly looking more and more like the mediocre team that, entering the season, most observers believed they would be.

"It was a very frustrating loss, obviously,'' Coughlin said. "We did not get in the end zone when we had the chance. You always worry that's going to come back to haunt you.''

Manning got a pat on the shoulder and some consoling words afterward from Vick, a former top overall draft selection. "He just said, 'Keep learning. You're young. You'll get better,' '' Manning said.

He also had a brief exchange with his father, Archie, who watched from the stands. He had spoken to Peyton during the week but didn't know if his brother had been able to watch any of the game after the Colts won in Chicago.

"I talked to my dad for a second after the game,'' Manning said. "He just said, 'I'm proud of you.' I listen to my coaches and learn from what they tell me. My dad and Peyton, they're just there for support.'' . . .

Rookie starting quarterbacks fell to 11-2 league-wide this season Sunday. Roethlisberger upped his record to 8-0. But the Bears' Craig Krenzel lost for the first time in four tries, and Manning lost his initial start. . . .

Vick had 104 rushing yards, 91 in the first half. He set an NFL record for quarterbacks with his fifth career 100-yard rushing performance, three of which have come this season. . . .

The "other'' top-10 pick from this year's draft on the field Sunday, Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hall, had the game's most breathtakingly athletic play, but it was wiped out by a penalty. Hall was on a cornerback blitz in the third quarter when Manning tried to throw a screen pass. The rookie from Virginia Tech jumped high in the air and snared the throw, then headed toward the end zone for what would have been a spectacular touchdown. But the play had been whistled dead because of a false-start penalty on Giants left tackle Luke Petitgout. . . .

The Falcons are 8-2 for the second time in their 39-season history. In 1998, they won eight of their first 10 games en route to a 14-2 regular season and a Super Bowl appearance. These Falcons have a four-game lead over the second-place New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South, matching the Eagles for the largest cushion of any division leader.

They still have their doubters. They surrendered eight rushing touchdowns, an NFL single-game record, in a 56-10 loss at Kansas City last month, and they have squeaked by in wins over San Francisco, Arizona, San Diego and now the Giants. On Sunday, they committed 12 penalties and had only 65 yards of offense and four first downs in the second half. Tight end Alge Crumpler, who had a pair of first-half touchdown catches, was their only effective receiver. Wideout Peerless Price didn't have a single catch. Vick had a pair of fourth-quarter fumbles -- bringing his total for the season to 11.

Green Outsmarts Himself

The oddest coaching move of the weekend backfired.

The Cardinals had won three of their previous four games and were in position to make some noise in the second half of the season. Their 4-5 record put them in third place in the NFC West, only a game out of first. They were coming off a gritty, come-from-behind triumph over the Giants that led to Warner's benching. Third-year quarterback Josh McCown had struggled at times, as when he threw for only 90 yards against the Giants. But Coach Dennis Green had stuck by him staunchly all season after releasing incumbent starter Jeff Blake in the offseason to hand him the starting job, and McCown had thrown only four interceptions to go with his six touchdown passes. The Cardinals were approaching a favorable portion of their schedule, beginning with Sunday's game at 2-7 Carolina.

So what did Green do? He became the anti-Joe Gibbs and benched a quarterback who didn't need to be benched. Green split the practice work last week between McCown and former Tampa Bay starter Shaun King, who was signed in the offseason as McCown's backup, and told his team Saturday night that King would be the starter against the Panthers. Unless there is more to the story than has been made public -- like an undisclosed injury or a behind-the-scenes incident -- it smacked of a Steve Spurrier-like approach to coaching in the NFL, being unhappy after a win because there weren't enough passing yards to suit the coach.

It was the latest in a series of unconventional coaching moves this season by Green, who has juggled the starters on his offensive line since summer practices and has made two changes to his coaching staff during the season, including the firing of his offensive line coach after six games.

King threw three interceptions and fumbled four times, losing one of them, in a 35-10 loss to the Panthers that dropped the Cardinals two games behind the first-place Seattle Seahawks. But Green was defiant when he addressed reporters after the game.

"I'm not going to sit here and justify anything to you,'' said Green, who reached the playoffs eight times in 10 seasons as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings between 1992 and 2001. "I don't operate that way. I make a decision. And when I make a decision, I stay with it until I change my mind.''

Green indicated that King would remain Arizona's starter, and added: "In 31 years of experience, I will make decisions that I think will help us to win. I'm probably right a hell of a lot more than I'm wrong. Whether or not I'm wrong or not, we'll see when the season is over.'' . . .

Cleveland quarterback Jeff Garcia is scheduled to undergo an MRI today on the shoulder injury that knocked him out of Sunday's loss to the New York Jets. Browns right tackle Ryan Tucker is scheduled to undergo an MRI for a knee injury. The initial prognosis was that he suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament, an injury that usually takes two to four weeks to heal. . . .

Perhaps the worst sign for the ever-deteriorating job security of Coach Butch Davis was not that Cleveland dropped to 3-7 with Sunday's loss. It was that the Browns reportedly had about 20,000 empty seats in the second half. . . .

Peyton Manning's four touchdown passes against the Bears give him 35 for the season. He's on pace to finish with 56, which would be eight more than Dan Marino's single-season NFL record set in 1984. Manning has thrown 18 touchdown passes and four interceptions in the Colts' last four games.

Henson Could Start Thursday

After weeks of saying that rookie quarterback Drew Henson wasn't ready for extensive playing time, Dallas Cowboys Coach Bill Parcells went to the former pro baseball player after 41-year-old starter Vinny Testaverde hurt his shoulder during Sunday's loss at Baltimore.

The Cowboys have lost six of their last seven games. Their last four defeats have come by at least 20 points, a franchise first. They have a record of 3-7 and it probably is time to look to the future, which means sitting down Testaverde and veteran running back Eddie George and playing Henson and rookie tailback Julius Jones, who rushed for 81 yards on 30 carries against the Ravens in his first game since breaking his shoulder blade in Week 2. But Parcells declined to say during his news conference today whether Henson or Testaverde would start Thursday's Thanksgiving game against Chicago.

"We'll see how he does and we'll see how [Testaverde] is,'' Parcells said. "We'll see. I should know a lot more tomorrow.'' . . .

Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis could be heard outside the locker room yelling at his players after Sunday's 19-14 loss to the Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals managed only two first downs and 42 yards of offense in the second half after leading, 14-10, at the intermission.

Lewis also assailed his players during his postgame news conference, saying: "I'm angry, the angriest I've been. We cannot accept mediocrity. We are never going to go where we need to go if we accept this, if we accept playing close, if we accept being in the lead in the first half and not finishing the football game. . . . We're not going to be that way at all. Nobody is going to accept it. I don't want our fans to accept it. I don't want anybody to accept it.''

The Bengals had won three of their previous four games but fell to 4-6 with the loss, and Lewis said he told his players to come to work this week ready to buckle down.

"That's what I told our football team,'' Lewis said. "We are going to come out with a better resolve than we did this last week. If you're not ready to come to work, then don't come in here because we are going to be a better football team than that. . . . We just keep working. We'll work smarter. We'll work harder. We'll work better. We'll work longer if that's what it takes. But we're going to fix it, and we're going to be right. . . . I think we'll be all right. They played their hearts out. But we've got to play smart.'' . . .

Seattle wide receiver Koren Robinson's four-game suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy could begin this week. He reportedly lost his appeal after participating in a hearing last week in New York. Robinson was benched for Sunday's win over Miami for violating an unspecified team rule. . . . .

Jacksonville quarterback Byron Leftwich could return to the lineup Sunday at Minnesota after missing two games because of a knee injury. Jaguars Coach Jack Del Rio said during his news briefing today that he expects to know more about Leftwich's status on Wednesday. . . .

Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss will be listed as doubtful on the team's initial injury report this week. But Coach Mike Tice has said that Moss could return to the lineup for the Jacksonville game if he gets a full week of practice. Moss has missed three full games (and most of two others) because of a partially torn hamstring.