As the Giants prepare to leave for their bye week _ the players will be off starting Wednesday _ Pat Shurmur gave a strong vote of confidence to the one position everyone who observes the team cares about.
"Eli is our quarterback," he said of the beleaguered two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning.
But what about when the Giants return early next week?
On that topic, Shurmur was less unequivocal.
"We'll see," Shurmur said. "We'll look at all things. I think we have a minute here to do that and I think we have to make some good decisions going forward."
Shurmur is well aware of the weight his words carry, and he tried to be as precise as he could be. He said he doesn't want to "tease" the idea of a quarterback change. But since the end of Sunday's loss to Washington, he's done little to defuse that possibility either.
This is a coach who two-and-a-half weeks ago said that Manning's role on the team would not be on the table when the Giants had a weekend off following their loss to the Eagles. It's a coach who, when he wanted to try to squash a storyline about his star wide receiver earlier this season emphasized his lack of patience with the topic by declaring it "Finito! Done!"
This quarterback conversation? It's comenzando! Just getting starting!
"At this point, Eli is our quarterback and we're looking at all areas to improve," he said. "That's where it's at."
Manning said he is not worried about what is starting to feel like a bye-week referendum on his future at the position he has held for almost all of the past 14 seasons.
"That's what a coach does," Manning said. "The bye week, you evaluate everything. That's part of his job."
As for whether that verdict keeps Manning on the field, he said: "I hope so." And if it does not, he said he'll deal with that too.
"I've always been a team player and do what I'm told," Manning said. "I expect and want to be the starting quarterback until I'm told differently."
The debate over Manning stems more from the team's performance than his. He has a passer rating of 91.0 this season with eight touchdowns and six interceptions (two of them on Sunday). He hasn't been flawless, but neither has he been able to elevate an offense that is struggling to score points in a league where younger, more mobile quarterbacks shake their heads and have touchdowns fall from their hair. With the team at 1-7 and already peeking toward the future with the trades executed last week, playing Manning at the cost of developing other quarterbacks may be at odds with the long-term goals of the Giants right now. Especially after last year when not playing rookie Davis Webb in any games was seen as a mistake.
The Giants' options to play quarterback aren't necessarily better than Manning, just different. Backup Alex Tanney and rookie Kyle Lauletta have a total of one NFL game of experience. Shurmur insists that even though Lauletta has yet to be active for a regular-season game, behind the scenes he is preparing and getting reps in practices.
"You always want to make sure that when you replace somebody you replace them with somebody who can do that job," Shurmur said. "I think you always consider that because the team counts on the fact that we're going to play the best people at all positions."
Changing a quarterback, though, is never a simple decision. The Giants have made plenty of lineup switches so far this season, but replacing a two-time Super Bowl MVP isn't something that is handled only at the head coaching level.
Shurmur said he had not yet spoken with general manager Dave Gettleman or ownership about Manning.
"I imagine that might be part of what we do this week," Shurmur said.
And it could determine who plays quarterback for the Giants going forward this season.
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