Basically Giants owner says the whole Eli Manning benching fiasco comes down to a failure to communicate. The Giants owner finally spoke Wednesday at in impromptu press conference where no pictures or videos were allowed, lest his expressions be photographed. Although the Giants had no problem tweeting out Eli breaking up as he addressed reporters, but I digress.

According to Mara, after speaking with general manager Jerry Reese on Monday from Virginia, he'd given the okay for McAdoo to inform Manning that Geno Smith will begin entering games that Eli would start, not necessarily at the end of the first half or if the he was doing well. “I didn’t necessarily think it had to be at the half. I think if he’s playing well in the first half, we’re winning the game, it looks like we’ve got a chance, the offense is clicking, I would argue then keep him in the game. But having him definitively come out at the end of the first half, I can understand why [Manning] would object to that.”

Something got lost in the translation when McAdoo presented it to Eli as in you're only starting to protect your streak and that Geno Smith is playing in the second half no matter what.

Mara should have been there when Eli was informed. If he had seen Eli's reaction maybe he could have stopped it or at least cleared up the misunderstanding. He understands that. He also understands McAdoo's mishandling of the situation. “Well it was presented the way Ben thought it ought to be presented. And could we have done it differently? I guess you argue that we could’ve, yes.”

This whole thing could have been handled differently. First off, they could have done nothing. You start Eli and if the games get out of hand, which they probably will, you then put the other quarterbacks in and see what you have. You're not going to see very much anyway since they're playing without blocking and receivers. Option two: you ASK Eli how he would feel about coming out and see if he would give you his blessing to look at the other guys. You then go by what he says with the proviso that if the games get out of hand, Eli's coming out, but you give him a chance to start and win the game.

Option three: you hold a press conference with Eli, head coach Ben McAdoo, general manager Jerry Reese, and owner John Mara and announce that Eli will be making his last start at a home game that will be "Eli Manning Day" and let him go out in style, if in fact he's going out at all. It's a shame you have to break an iron man streak of 210 games over two guys who are about to lose their jobs.

It's more than likely the Giants are going to fire both McAdoo and Reese after this nightmare of a season is over. It's also more than likely the Giants will be drafting a quarterback in the upcoming draft. With Eli under contract for the next two years, who better to get the new guy ready. Since his demotion, Eli has been preparing Davis Webb for his NFL debut and playing on the Giants scout team, that's the kind of guy he is.

It's very possible the Giants beat the Raiders Sunday. They have an awful defense that has only one interception all year. I'm expecting Geno Smith to fix that. They will also be without their starting receivers Amari Cooper on concussion protocol and Michael Crabtree suspended. It's also possible Geno gets hurt and Eli enters the game and wins it. Wouldn't that be ironic?

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