–On Sunday, veteran offensive lineman John Greco will become the ninth different center to snap the ball to quarterback Eli Manning.
Greco’s promotion unfortunately comes about as a result of the season-ending broken ankle suffered by Jon Halapio, which is certainly not the way the 33-year-old Greco wanted to get into the starting lineup. Nevertheless, those are the circumstances as he prepares for his first full week of practice to snap the ball to Manning and make the line calls.
Greco said he’s ready for the opportunity.
“A year ago this time, I was at home,” he said, reflecting on how far he’s come since joining the Giants Nov. 17, 2017.
“I knew I still had enough gas in the tank that I could’ve been playing, and I was just happy I got the opportunity here last year and then again this offseason.”
Greco is actually getting ready to step into an offensive line that has struggled to find consistency the last two weeks. His first order of business has been to spend more time with Manning to watch film and review protection calls to ensure that both men are on the same page.
“I always meet with the offensive line and the centers especially and just talk a bunch about how we make calls,” Manning said.
“We’ve just got to start watching Houston, but we usually meet with them just quarterbacks, offensive line at least two times a week and just go over different looks, different calls to make sure we’re prepared for whatever calls we might have to make during the game.”
Can the transition to a new center be seamless?
“I think it will be. Greco’s a vet. He’s been here — he came here last year. He’s been here all training camp. We’ve worked together, we’ve gotten snaps throughout training camp and everything so that shouldn’t be a problem,” Manning said.
“He knows what’s going on. We’ve met this week, we’ve talked a bunch on some calls, making sure we’re saying the same thing and hearing things the same way.”
Although Greco is not believed to have taken many snaps with the first-team offense since the start of the season in practice, Shurmur said the goal is to keep chipping away at getting not just Greco, but everyone ready to play for the next game.
“You get three opportunities to practice and one walk-through and just keep on working on those fundamentals and keep trying to get to the plays they can execute better,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS: 8 — Number of times quarterback Eli Manning has been sacked through two games this season. Manning is on pace to be sacked 64 times, a number which would eclipse the career-high 39 sacks he absorbed in 2013.
