Why did the New York Giants keep Curtis Painter as their backup quarterback ahead of longtime Eli Manning backup David Carr? My first thought was that it may have had something to do with Painter being six years younger than Carr, but Giants coach Tom Coughlin said in the team's official news release that the decision was based entirely on preseason performance.
"We simply based it on the preseason," Coughlin said. "From the standpoint of all the evaluations, it pointed to the fact that Painter had a better preseason.
"We'll miss David Carr around here, to be honest with you. He's done an outstanding job directing our second offense and our scout team. He has the ability to do whatever we ask of him in that regard. He can run the option, he can be the running quarterback if you want him to do that. Ryan Nassib is going to have to step up and be that guy when you're talking about the teams we play that have a running quarterback."
The Giants drafted Nassib in the fourth round of this year's draft and view him as a developmental prospect. That's why they needed to keep three quarterbacks this year instead of just two -- can't cut Nassib if you intend to develop him, and he's not ready to go into a game if starter Eli Manning gets hurt.
The upshot, of course, is that if Manning has to miss any significant amount of time, the Giants are burnt toast. But since they presumably would not just forfeit the remainder of the season, they would need someone with some NFL experience to take the snaps. As of now, with eight days left before the regular-season opener, it's Painter, who used to back up Manning's older brother in Indianapolis.
