Eli Manning had an awful 2013 season, but Giants owner John Mara thinks Manning is still a great quarterback.
Asked if Manning is on the down side of his career, Mara answered, “No, I don’t think so.”
“I don’t think he all of a sudden forgot how to play quarterback,” Mara said, via Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. “We expect to see the championship-level Eli play for us this year. He hopefully will have more support than he had last year, and I think you’ll see him playing back to his form.”
The 33-year-old Manning happens to have an older brother who just won an MVP award at age 37, and Mara doesn’t see any reason that Eli can’t keep playing well into his late 30s.
“We still believe he’s got a lot of years left in him,” Mara said. “And we’re not talking like Eli Manning only has one or two more years left. We think he’s got quite a few more left.”
If Manning does have quite a few more years left, the Giants have to hope those years don’t look anything like 2013.