Eli was dodging half the New England Patriots' ros

HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Vinny Johnson was a star quarterback at Hoboken High School and, better yet, the biggest Archie Manning fan in what would become Eli Manning's adopted hometown. In fact, Johnson saw in the father a toughness and resolve he did not always see in the son.So as an assistant coach at Hoboken and the man charged to shepherd Manning and a small circle of Giants teammates through their recent lockout-inspired workouts, Johnson was moved to approach Eli with this simple confession:"You're not the quarterback I really thought you were."No, the point isn't to suggest that it takes a quarterback to know one, New York Giants Jerseys or that Johnson's quarter century of coaching teenagers at Hoboken High makes him a tougher and more credible critic of the Giants' franchise player.The point is to show how Eli Manning has grown on the people around here, if only because Eli Manning has done some growing of his own.
"What a general he is," said Johnson, who runs the Veterans Field facility at Hoboken High's John F. Kennedy Stadium. "The way he handles himself, the way he handles his teammates, it's amazing to see how they respond to him."Eli comes in around 10 a.m., he talks, everyone's quietly listening, and then they get their work done. You can see in the eyes of his teammates that they're going to do everything this kid asks of them, and they're going to try to make him the best quarterback there is."Chances are, Manning won't ever be the best quarterback in his own family, never mind the best quarterback there is. NFL Jerseys He did throw 25 interceptions last year, not all of them deflected, remember?But it wasn't so long ago when Manning was defined by his slumping shoulders, by his bewildered facial expressions,Cheap Gucci Wallets, and by the fan base's suspicion that he didn't have the necessary leadership gene to be a championship quarterback.
"Eli will never be like Jim McMahon," his father said then, "but I think he will take a step forward in that regard next year. He's a quiet kid, but I saw him do this at Ole Miss. By his senior year, he was assertive. ... I'm very confident he's going to make that part of his work in the offseason."A year later, Eli was dodging half the New England Patriots'