QB Eli Manning
Postgame vs. Dallas, October 25, 2015
Q: Eli, what was the difference as far as your offense is concerned? Today you guys were a lot more efficient than you were against the Eagles?
A: Well, we didn’t turn the ball over. I think that’s the most important thing; protected the football. You know, offensively, I thought we ran the ball well, started off getting positive yardage, built a couple big ones at the end. Orleans [Darkwa] came in and had a couple great runs for us. I thought he hit a couple big plays down the field. Hit one to Rueben [Randle] down the right sideline, we’re backed up on our own five-yard line or so. Hit Dwayne [Harris] on one right before the two minute. Had a couple of other opportunities. So, we hit some big plays—we’ve still got to be a bit more efficient offensively, didn’t score enough points. We gotta do better down in the red zone, getting touchdowns in those scenarios. Third down—I don’t think we were very good. We had made plenty to do and had fifty plays [...]. In the second half didn’t have the ball very much at all, but some of that’s when you have kickoff returns and you have turnovers and you have interceptions and touchdowns, sometimes you don’t get the ball that often, but we’ll take those points any day of the week.
Q: Eli, talk about what [Orleans] Darkwa added to your offense and particularly about his running style that helped your offense today.
A: Well, Orleans just seemed, you know he broke some tackles, I thought, he’s a downhill kind of one cut runner and he ran well in preseason for us. Last year when he had to play for us he ran well, so it was good to get him in the action and make some plays and had some great runs and that was a big drive for us going down there getting the touchdown.
Q: Eli, can you talk about [Dwayne] Harris’ play—both on offense and then on special teams?
A: Yeah, obviously Dwayne had a nice little slant route before the two minute, in the two minute drive that got us down into field goal position for about a 40-yard gain or so. So that was a great play. Then obviously the special teams kickoff return for a touchdown—that was huge. Dallas comes and ties the game up and then has a little momentum going and then he takes it, I don’t know what it was, ninety-nine yards, for a touchdown and ends up being the game winning score right there, so huge play in the game and so he’s doing a good job. I think obviously we brought him here to be a special teams guy and he’s had to play a bit more receiver than he anticipated, but he’s getting better each and every week and making some big plays in the receiving game and he’s got some ways of getting the ball. He is a playmaker once he has the ball in his hands.
Q: How do you like Larry Donnell? When you first started the game, you got to him the first 3 or 4 passes, was that a strategic move or just to help him out…?
A: Just depends on what the defense is doing. We may try to put guys in certain positions and give them the ball, but for me, I make out the coverages and you never know where it is going to go. He made a couple nice plays for us and some conversions. He is a weapon for us and had a good game.
Q: What did you get out of your defense and special teams today?
A: Definitely, the defense played outstanding. They got a lot of turnovers. Today they got three turnovers, which is big. We had a special teams turnover and a special teams touchdown. With those situations, we’ve got to pull our weight a little bit more and score some more points. We had a good game plan. We started with the football and didn’t turn it over and made some plays when needed.
Q: Your offensive line pretty much held up against the likes of Greg Hardy …
A: Yeah, the offensive line did a good job. Had a good front and did a good job giving pressure and ran the ball. Coach Coughlin challenged us earlier in the week for the offensive line to run the ball better and I thought we did that. They had some nice runs. That was good to see.
Q: Can you talk about the play of Rueben Randle?
A: Rueben did a good job. He had a great catch on the right sideline. We were backed up on our third down, we were on our own five-yard line so it was a big third down conversion, and a change in the field position right there. Then the next play, handed the ball to Shane [Vereen] and he goes about 40 yards also. Two big plays right there. Rueben had a couple of other nice third down conversions, had a slant for a big play and earlier on the inside and got a pass interference on the third down. I thought Rueben played well, made some big plays for us and will have to continue to do that.
