ARCHIVOS MR PLAYBOOK (2008)

We learned last season that Eli Manning is a championship-level QB. He proved that he is indeed the franchise QB for the New York Giants… and we learned the importance of having patience with a young quarterback.

But with Eli it wasn’t always like this… a lot of people and teammates where questioning the ability of their young quarterback, but coach Coughlin and the Giants had the patience to develop him into a championship QB… and it paid off.

This next season clearly will be an interesting one for a handful of quarterbacks who've endured the kind of adversity that Manning knows all too well. Alex Smith enters his fourth season in San Francisco facing questions about how long he can keep his job. Matt Leinart goes into his third season in Arizona hoping to avoid splitting time with veteran Kurt Warner. Kansas City's Brodie Croyle and Washington's Jason Campbell are among those QBs having to adjust to new offensive systems. And we certainly can't ignore the mind-boggling return of the much-maligned Rex Grossman to the Chicago Bears.

All these teams are hoping that their young QBs can turn on the switch just like Manning did… but we have to see which teams have the patience the Giants did.

- The Mentor