Peyton Manning is playing the finest football of his decorated career, but little brother Eli is in a funk.
The New York Giants are winless and littered with weaknesses up and down the roster.
In a 36-21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Eli sunk the Giants into a hole with three fourth-quarter interceptions, giving him a league-worst 12 on the season.
"It all comes down to the interceptions," coach Tom Coughlin said, per the New York Daily News. "Two of them were just almost unbelievable. ... I honestly believe that he's trying so hard to get us a win, he's almost put too much on himself. He keeps it all pretty much inside. I'm not making excuses. There were a couple of those plays that were terrible."
It can't be easy for Coughlin to dig into his quarterback. He and Manning have paired for two Super Bowl wins and a run of consistently good football in Gotham.
With the Giants 0-5 for the first time since 1979, Coughlin and Manning are pressing. It's made for some bad moments. Eli, on Sunday, showed an ability to carve up Philly's secondary, but he also accounted for a pair of intentional grounding penalties to go with the rash of picks.
Of course, Manning's pass protection has been ghastly, and New York's roster is thin all over -- a problem that points more to general manager Jerry Reese than it does Coughlin or Eli. Still, when you're winless in October, there's plenty of blame to go around.
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