Monday Brunch: Accepting Eli Manning

Back in August I was asked to help a couple of New York friends (well, friends of a friend) in their first-ever fantasy draft. They had rookie questions, I had experienced answers. And when they asked about Eli Manning(notes), fantasy quarterback, I had a handful of reasons why they didn't want to go that route. I'm pretty sure I talked them out of some New York receivers, too (in my defense, they said Hixon, I said no). Now we're two weeks into the season and my so-called friends think I'm an idiot (join the club, line forms at right). They watched Manning's explosion Sunday night in glorious HD along with the rest of us. And with all this in mind, it's time for a lesson about context. It wasn't hard to construct the anti-Manning campaign before the season. The team's defense was too good – forget about shootouts here. The running game was too dominant – Manning wouldn't have to steer the offense. The receivers were too unproven &ndas...