Toughest issue for 0-5 NY Giants: The unexpected QB debate and where Eli Manning fits

EAST RUTHERFORD - Eli Manning's focus is on preparing for the Denver Broncos.

His heart - as you'd expect - is with Giants teammates Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall and Dwayne Harris, all of whom underwent season-ending surgery this week.

As for his mind - let's just say Manning has given no thought to being anywhere else.

"Nope, none," Manning told The Record and NorthJersey.com when asked Tuesday in the locker room if he had any desire to go elsewhere rather than staying with the Giants, who have watched a season once filled with Super Bowl hope and playoff promise spiral in a hurry with five consecutive losses - one more painful than the next.

Manning is a Giant, and despite the disappointment and frustration that comes with how this season has played out, this is where he wants to finish his career, regardless of how frustrating things might be right now.

"Well, hey, you go out there and you play the next game. It’s tough losing. It’s not fun," Manning said. "There’s a lot of great things in this game and losing – that’s the worst part of it. That’s kind of the situation we’re in and now, you still have to go prepare and try to win the next game like always."

Regarding his own future, Manning added: "My focus is the Denver Broncos. Going out there, getting a win. That’s it."

At 36, Manning has been the face of the Giants since 2004, and regardless of how many faces of the two-time Super Bowl MVP have been turned into memes, ownership loves No. 10.

Manning has given so much to the Giants, and vice versa, but here is the toughest question the Giants are going to have to answer moving forward, and it's not solely about how much more the former has to give.

This is something they have to be contemplating right now: can the Giants ignore sentimentality for the sake of roster assessment? 

There is a fine line between maintaining respectability and coming up with the best evaluation plan, and when it comes to quarterbacks, nothing is more important to an NFL franchise. That's where things get complicated for Big Blue.

The Giants never expected to be in this position, but here they are. This was supposed to be the ideal situation for the Jets, who have wrecked that narrative by winning three of their first five games, and not the Giants, who were considered favorites to contend with the Cowboys in the NFC East and make a run at their fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Making a run at the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 was not supposed to be in the cards.

The Jets were said to be the ones sorting through scouting reports for potential franchise quarterbacks. The Giants were not expected to be picking high enough to make that a significant part of their pre-draft process, not when their selection was going to be in the 20s again due to a return trip to the playoffs.

Best laid plans, huh? And yet here we are.

The Giants would have a Top 3 pick if the season ended today and their chances of claiming the top spot went up exponentially with the year-ending ankle surgeries for Beckham and Marshall.

ON TO DENVER: 5 story lines as Big Blue heads to Mile High

LEGEND:Y.A. Tittle, Hall of Fame quarterback and Giants legend, dies at 90

TAKING TO TWITTER:How NY Giants fans are reacting on social media

BAD TO WORSE:Giants' miserable season gets more miserable, now 0-5 without injured Beckham

Has team brass seen enough of Davis Webb in limited preseason action and practice to pass up on the chance to grab UCLA's Josh Rosen, USC's Sam Darnold or, say, Louisville's Lamar Jackson if any of the three emerge as the apple of their scouting eye next April?

If you don't go quarterback, what about Penn State's star running back Saquon Barkley, whom ESPN/ABC college football analyst Brian Griese likened to Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson and Marcus Allen this past Saturday?

You can stop the shouting about the offensive line, because we get it, the Giants need to rebuild theirs. Consider this, though: faced with a must-draft of a lineman in 2015, the Giants forced themselves to take Ereck Flowers at No. 9 instead of Todd Gurley, who went 10th to the Rams.

There has to be a serious conversation behind the scenes about quarterback and what comes next. That's what this woeful start has done, and if the Giants are doing right by themselves for the long haul, they must be having this talk.

Again, this isn't about Manning's viability as a winner, and replacing him is not of utmost importance going into 2018. This isn't a plea for the Giants to cut ties with the best quarterback in team history - actually, it's the opposite.

Still, the Giants have to come to a consensus of what they have in Webb, and make no mistake: the clock has been sped up on that front.

They never anticipated having to make a call on Webb's ability to replace Manning this soon because, as they've said, the organization was not thinking Top 5, which is franchise quarterback territory. The Giants were plenty happy seeing Webb lead the drive that set up Aldrick Rosas' game-winning field goal in the preseason against the Patriots, and the expectation was that he would watch and learn and be in position to pick up where he left off come next spring.

To truly evaluate his progress and make a call on their faith in him, Webb should get some playing time in games that count.

Manning will make his 217th consecutive start Sunday night against the Broncos - playoffs included - with Roger Lewis Jr., Tavarres King, rookies Travis Rudolph and Ed Eagan in his primary group of wide receivers with rookie Evan Engram and Rhett Ellison at tight end.

Maybe the Giants will come out and stun everyone, hang with the Broncos and give themselves a shot at pulling off the upset. However unlikely that is, it's the only way Manning knows how to get ready to do his job.

"Hey, the only way to fix the mood is to get a win. Nothing else is going to change it," Manning said. "Nothing else is going to make you feel any better except going out there and getting a ‘W’. We have to have great preparation. We have to have great energy and enthusiasm. Excited about this opportunity."

There's a game to play and to Manning, that's the priority.

Yet sooner rather than later, if they haven't already, the Giants are going to have to confront the circumstances of the bigger picture they never expected and what that means for their quarterback position in the future, both immediate and long-term.