Manning vs. Barber Round II

So in case you haven’t heard, Tiki Barber former RB for the NY Giants and current NBC analyst openly criticized his former QB Eli Manning during Sunday’s game.  The Giants all-time leading rusher stated that it was “comical” the way that Manning tried to lead offensive meetings.

Barber also questioned whether or not Manning could be a leader and make the important plays when things weren’t going well. “His personality hasn’t been so that he can step up, make a strong statement and have people believe that it’s coming from his heart,” Barber said on the show.

Barber then told the story about Manning being uncomfortable talking to the offense in Week 12.

“He didn’t feel like his voice was going to be strong enough and it showed,” Barber said. “Sometimes it was almost comical the way that he would say things.”

 Well today Eli Manning fired back. For me it was the first time I really hear Eli get fired up about anything. He’s always been the “quiet brother” and Peyton has been the more vocal.

Eli’s statments were as follows:

“I guess I’m just happy for Tiki that he’s making a smooth transition into the TV world,” Manning said. “You know, I’ll be interested to see if he has anything to say (about a team) besides the Giants, and what his comments will be on that.”

“It’s just one of those deals. I’m not going to lose any sleep about what Tiki has to say,” Manning said. “I guess I could have questioned his leadership skills last year with calling out the coach and having articles about him retiring in the middle of the season, and he’s lost the heart (to play).

“As a quarterback you’re reading that your running back has lost the heart to play the game and it’s about the 10th week,” Manning said. “I can see that a little bit at times. But I’m not going to get concerned. I’m going to go out there and play ball.”

Barber’s comments have apparently come as  a surprise for his friends and former teammates and many came to Mannings defense.

Head Coach Tom Coughlin had nothing to say in regards to Barber’s comments other than the fact he was happy that Manning defended himself.

“Well, he thought about what he was going to do, and he decided he would say exactly what he felt,” Coughlin said. “More power to him.”

I have to say I find this whole situation a little bizarre and for numerous reasons it reminds me of something you might see in high school. On one hand I think it’s great that Eli Manning stood up for himself and that it was unprofessional of Tiki Barber to call out a former teammate on national TV.

On the other hand, it might have served Eli better to just not say anything, let Tiki’s comments roll off your back and keep doing your job. Sure people are probably pressing him to respond but sometimes you might just need to leave well enough alone.

In other Manning news, this is the current commerical featuring the Manning’s including this bloggers favorite, dad, Archie. Clearly the Manning family has a great sense of humor, or maybe it’s just good script/ad writing. 

Manning NFL Ticket commercial