It is risky enough asking your franchise quarterback to break career-long habits and acclimate sooner rather than later to a new offense and new offensive coordinator.
But unless Eli Manning magically becomes Aaron Rodgers, the Giants are doomed as long as: The offensive line remains a punch line.
BREAKING: The Giants offensive line, its pride stung, can’t wait to punch back.
“I got no doubt in this unit and this group,” right tackle Justin Pugh told The Post. “No one else has been in those rooms. No one else knows what we’ve gone through together. I know I got trust in this group, and we’re gonna go out there and we’re gonna go to battle together, and I got faith in the guy next to me, no matter who it is.
“That’s a tough pill to swallow on Monday night. To come out and play that way definitely hurts your pride, and you want to go out there and prove everybody wrong.
“We’ve had nine months of hearing that, and we want to go out and prove everybody wrong. I know, watching that film and seeing the way it looked, we gotta improve, and we’re going to.”
It sure doesn’t sound as if the offensive line’s confidence has been shaken.
“This offensive line is good enough to go the whole way,” left tackle Will Beatty told The Post. “It’s there, the talent is there. We’re not working with high-school kids trying to be in the league. The Giant organization, the owners and staff, they know what they’re doing it. We got two trophies in there shined up right now, recent past, along with the other ones.
“Yes, right now we’re in a rut. The thing is, we are the Giants, and the expectation, it’s so high, for our fans, you want them to continue that expectation for us.
“When you mess up as a Giant,” he said with a chuckle, “you’re not just hiding in the corner. You’re gonna be out there for everybody to see, and the media’s gonna be in your face, asking what happened? And it’s gonna be every day. You want to go against the best, you want to have the best, you want to have the most pressure, this is the place to be, and you succeed in this element, you’re on top of the world. They could care less what you did in the past — do it again, do it now!”
But the concern is the fact that last year was such an awful year for the offensive line.
“But everyone knows how great the Giants can be,” Beatty said, “and it’s like you know that we’re not there yet. We know we’re not there yet. The fans know we’re not there yet.
“So don’t give up on us. Don’t say, ‘Oh, they’re nobody.’ We’re gonna get there. I don’t want to say, ‘Oh, because you lost one game, now it’s over.’ ”
Beatty, back from a broken leg, promises it’s not over.
“It has to click,” Beatty said.
When is it going to click?
“It better click soon,” Beatty said, and chuckled. “It should be that mind-set of just, ‘OK they’re coming in our house. They have to beat us in our house, that’s not gonna happen.’ It has to be that mind-set, not the other way around.”
The Cardinals will be without defensive ends John Abraham and destroyer Darnell Dockett.
“Obviously there’s growing pains that go with putting in a new offense, but Detroit put in a new offense and they seemed all right,” Pugh said. “So we gotta make sure that we’re getting our job done and we’re doing the things we need to do.”
The film session with offensive line coach Pat Flaherty was understandably not pleasant.
“It’s not like he’s coming in there freaking out and everybody yelling at everybody. What’s that gonna accomplish?” Pugh said.
If your glass is half-blue as opposed to half-blah, you will take solace in the fact rookie guard Weston Richburg got his feet wet, and Beatty survived his first test with his repaired broken leg.
“It’s not the Will Beatty that I can be,” he said. “Now it’s not that question of, ‘OK can he do it? Yes, he can play a whole game.’ Now let’s play the game to the level that it should be played.”
Good idea.
“Arizona’s coming to our house, 1 o’clock, we are planning for our fans to show up and to support us, and to be cheering and loud and having that joy, and having the expectations of, ‘The Giants are making the Super Bowl this year.’ As in the locker room, we have that expectation as, we’re going to the Super Bowl. Yes, they’re coming here, but the game being played in Arizona, that’s where we want to end our season — on top, in Arizona.”
If the offensive line blocks the way it did in Detroit, the season will end long before the Super Bowl.