New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning doesn't like discussing the fact that he spurned the city of San Diego by opting not to play for them back in 2004, but with the Giants set to play the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium this Sunday, it was bound to come up. Manning, who has won two Super Bowl MVP awards with the Giants and probably has no regrets, said he "couldn't remember" why he and his family didn't want him to play in San Diego.
On draft day in 2004, the Manning family told the Chargers that the signal caller had no interest in playing in southern California, leading to the Chargers changing their draft plans. The Chargers selected Manning with the No.1 overall pick in 2004 then traded him to the Giants for No.4 pick Philip Rivers and three other picks.
Manning and Rivers will go head-to-head this Sunday.
The deal took 45 minutes to be completed as Manning did interviews at the theatre in Madison Square Garden in New York where the draft was held while the negotiations were ongoing.
"It wasn't an ideal situation," Manning said per NFL.com. "We were prepared to go through with it and wait it out."
After the deal was finally complete, Manning did a second round of interviews.
"I know I had more smiles the second time around," Manning said Wednesday via NFL.com.
Rivers said he didn't believe the Giants had any interest in drafting him and that they only did it so that they could move him in the trade to land Manning.
"When the Giants drafted me, I thought something must be going on with San Diego," Rivers recalled, according to NFL.com. "So I don't think about it as much [what if] because I really don't think it was as much of a possibility as it seemed."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin said he remembers the events of the day vividly.
"I remember [then general manager] Ernie Accorsi making that deal, of being 100 percent in belief that this was the right thing to do for our franchise," Coughlin told NFL.com.
This will be just the third time that Manning faces the Chargers, and he's only faced them once with Rivers under center on a day where Rivers got the best of the Giants in a 21-20 win in 2009.
Manning has insisted that he has nothing against San Diego.
"We had our rookie symposium there, but besides that, I have been to San Diego for a few other things," Manning said per NFL.com. "I know it's a beautiful city and great weather and has a lot of great things to it."
Manning also admitted he couldn't recall what happened in 2004 to make him not want to play there.
"I just can't remember it," he told NFL.com. "It's been 10 years. It slipped my mind."
On the season, Manning is 246-for-422 (58.3%) for 2,995 yards with 15 touchdowns and 18 interceptions for the Giants (5-7) while Rivers is 304-for-434 (70.0%) for 3,633 yards with 23 touchdowns and nine picks.
Regardless of how they were brought to their respective teams, Manning and Rivers square off for the second time ever Sunday.
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