The New York Giants lost a heartbreaker to their NFC East rival, the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. Not only did quarterback Eli Manning make the ill fated decision to pass the ball on 3rd & goal, he also told running back Rashad Jennings not to score a touchdown. The last tidbit was revealed by Jennings himself and now he’s apologizing for telling the world and throwing Manning under the bus.
“I hope that those who have come to know me over the years will readily see that this is something that is uncharacteristic of me,” Jennings wrote in a guest column for the New York Post. “I take full ownership of the fact that I didn’t handle things as I should have. And for that, again, I truly apologize to my quarterback, to my coach, to my team, and to our fans.”
“I want to apologize from my heart for the negative light that I unintentionally cast my quarterback and friend Eli Manning in. I continue to have the utmost respect for him, and I have complete trust in his leadership,” Jennings wrote in the Post. “… I admit in retrospect that I should not have shared that information with the world. I chose to do so, and for that choice, I am truly sorry.”
Jennings said Manning expressed his understanding and “wanted to put this fiasco behind us with no hard feelings.”
“As professional competitors, our deep-rooted desire to win is usually our best friend. It can drive us to leave everything out there on the field,” Jennings wrote in the Post. “But sometimes, if we are not careful, it can consume us enough to lead us, in the heat of a moment, to say things that only our souls should hear.
“We all just want to win. And I truly believe that I have learned a very valuable lesson about just how delicate a balance we must maintain in keeping ourselves and our team focused on the preeminent goal of winning games.”
