Eli Manning laid out the rules for his 11-year-old daughter Ava when the duo trekked to Philadelphia earlier this month for the Giants’ Divisional Round playoff game against the Eagles.
“Whatever you hear or see in Philadelphia, stays in Philadelphia,” Manning recalled during a recent appearance on “The Carton Show.”
“You can’t bring that back to school. We don’t need you being expelled. Don’t do anything you saw and give those gestures to a teacher.”
The Giants legend, 42, went into futher detail about his “interesting” visit to Philadelphia, explaining that Ava learned a few new gestures and words from Eagles fans.
“She definitely saw a few new gestures and learned a few new vocabulary words that she wasn’t quite aware of,” Manning said.
Although Manning vowed to never return to Philadelphia for a game following his retirement in 2020 after 16 seasons with the Giants, the two-time Super Bowl champ said he’d walk back on that promise during the final installment of ESPN’s “Manningcast” this season.
“I said when I retired I’d never go back to a football game in Philly,” Manning said at the time. “But I think I have to break that promise. I can’t wait to see the amount of double birds I get. Could break a record.”
That was, more or less, what followed for Manning upon his return to Lincoln Financial Field in mid-January, when Eagles fans booed him after he and Ava appeared on the Jumbotron. A “double birds” billboard also greeted the former quarterback, which prompted Manning to tweet: “This is the nicest thing you have ever said to me.”
As Manning and Giants fans know well by now, the game did not go in Big Blue’s favor, with the Eagles grabbing a 28-0 lead at halftime in the lopsided contest. Philadelphia would go on to win, 38-7, before punching its ticket to Super Bowl 2023 with Sunday’s NFC Championship victory over the 49ers.
“It was good until about 10 minutes into the game when things started going not so good,” Manning said. “I was excited to be there. I was excited to root on the Giants and the great season that they’ve had — making the playoffs, winning a playoff game. … Unfortunately, the game didn’t go quite how I wanted it to.”
Manning previously told The Athletic that he texted quarterback Daniel Jones after the game and said, “Great season. I thought you played great all year.”
Although Manning and Jones plan to meet in-person at some point over the next few weeks, per the Q&A with The Athletic, it remains to be seen if the fourth-year quarterback will following in his mentor’s footsteps by becoming a long-term Giant.
Months after the Giants declined his fifth-year option, Jones shined in his fourth season, throwing for a career-high 3,205 yards, 15 touchdowns and a career-low of five interceptions. He also rushed for a career-best of 708 yards and another seven touchdowns in the regular season.
Manning told The Post’s Steve Serby earlier this month that he hopes “everything works out and (Jones is) a New York Giant for a long time.”
