New England Patriots: Tom Brady discusses Eli Manning benching

Recently, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady discussed the situation of Eli Manning being benched by the New York Giants.

While the New England Patriots are rolling in the AFC this season, the same cant be said for the New York Giants in the NFC.

To start the season, some believed that we would get to see another Patriots/Giants Super Bowl matchup. In the offseason, the Giants were able to add Brandon Marshall to a team that was one of the best in the NFC in 2016.

Things did not go to plan for the Giants this season, as they struggled to start the season and injuries began to mount. In the past few weeks, the Giants have been almost unrecognizable compared to last season. However, Eli Manning was still the man under center.

With the Giants’ season being over, the organization wants to see what Geno Smith and Davis Webb can do in the remaining games. In doing so, this is a clear indication that the Giants are looking to move on from Manning next season.

With the longest active starting streak in the NFL, the Giants offered Manning the opportunity to start the remaining games for the rest of the season, but that he would be pulled for his backups. Manning did the right thing and declined this disrespectful offer by the Giants.

Since Manning is a two-time Super Bowl champion and potentially a Hall-of-Famer, there has been a ton of reactions to the move. Recently Tom Brady discussed the handling of the Manning situation. Here’s what he said via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com.

"“Obviously, being on the other side of two of those Super Bowl losses to an Eli Manning-led team, I just have so much respect for his dependability, for his consistency, for his toughness. You know that’s really everything you want in an NFL player, and I think Eli has always provided that for the team. So I think it’s a pretty unfortunate situation.”"

For Brady, Manning and the Giants are what stands between him and a ridiculous 7-0 record in Super Bowls. Since Manning and Brady have had some great battles on the biggest stage, Brady obviously has the utmost respect for Manning and also is well-aware of what he has accomplished.

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The awful handling of this situation likely will end Manning’s time in New York after the season is over. If we are going to see one more Manning/Brady matchup in the future, it will almost certainly come with Manning on another team.