for display only
Big Blue Interactive The Corner Forum  
Back to the Corner

Archived Thread

Monday Media Conference Call: QB Eli Manning

Eric from BBI : Admin : 12/28/2015 5:01 pm
QB Eli Manning

Conference Call, December 28, 2015

Q: Any thoughts on reflecting back on the game after looking at the tape?

A: No, it wasn’t a good day for us. It’s tough to get anything started, we didn’t convert on third downs, we got into third and longs. We ran the ball pretty well to start with, but we couldn’t get a completion early on in the game and never got into a great rhythm and turned the ball over and got behind.

Q: The simplistic way of looking at it is that you didn’t have Odell Beckham and it brought down your offense. What did you see that it was more than that?

A: Just didn’t make any plays offensively. We ran the ball pretty well, just it was tough to find a completion. They got some pressure early, had turnovers, they made plays, I made bad throws, made bad decisions, and I wasn’t on my game. But I don’t think it was a matter of Odell or not, we had other guys that could make plays. I didn’t do a good job getting them the ball.

Q: You think that you made some bad decisions. Are the decisions a result of pretty much what you’re seeing, is it what the defense is doing to disguise or confuse. What’s going on there?

A: Just a lot of bad throws, got to put it in a better spot or safer spot, change the protection. You’re still the guy running the offense and each one has its own little story, but overall I didn’t put it in a good spot to make plays and they did a good job, they did a good job changing up some things, but we should’ve had answers for it. There was nothing we hadn’t seen or we couldn’t handle and they just made some plays defensively and they did a good job.

Q: You guys have been in an awful lot of close games this year. How frustrating was it in a game in which basically only Giants’ pride was on the line to lose in such lopsided fashion?

A: It’s never fun to get beat badly. We’ve played a lot of close games, but it’s just the kind of game where it was just tough offensively to move the ball or get a completion. First quarter, didn’t have a completion, had terrible sacks, just tough to get into a rhythm and have an offense work efficiently. Can’t get first downs, can’t get completions.

Q: Were you happy with the effort you saw from guys or was that a problem or was it more just execution than anything?

A: I think execution wasn’t there. I think guys were trying to make plays and trying, just we didn’t execute well and especially in the past game, I thought we did a decent job running the ball, made some nice, big plays, but we weren’t consistent enough and didn’t do things well enough.

Q: You’ve never gone through 4 straight seasons missing out on the playoffs, so this is new for you. How difficult is it and to also deal with teammates who have only experienced losing, your expectations versus maybe other guys who really don’t know much about winning here?

A: It’s tough every year and I look at it one year at a time so it’s tough. I thought we would have an opportunity this year and the way the season was ending up at the halfway point, we had a great opportunity and even the last couple of weeks, haven’t done enough to make the playoffs and we just couldn’t win some close games and we had a lot of them. We had great opportunities to win games and be right in the mix and we didn’t take advantage of it. So it’s disappointing and it’s tough because I felt good about this season and the second year in this offense and some of the guys we had and the playmakers and just didn’t work out for us. We didn’t make some critical plays in critical moments of the game this season.

Q: I know this isn’t an excuse, I know you won’t use injuries as an excuse, but when your personnel changes and yours has, especially the receiving targets, how much of that factors into maybe some of the miscommunications and guys being on the same page?

A: Yeah, of course, it’s going to make a difference. You’ve got new guys coming in midway through the season and you’re plugging them in and having them playing, there’s a learning curve that you learn things, you get better through training camp and practices and sometimes now you’re learning on the run a little bit, learning in games, which is sometimes too late. Everybody deals with injuries, everybody has had guys step up and I thought we dealt with it for a while, we lost two tight ends but Will Tye came in and stepped up and made plays, guys at receiver stepped in and made plays and they’ve done good things. We’ve been playing well and being efficient with these guys and we’re still a top offense and scoring a lot of points and moving the ball, it just didn’t show up yesterday.

Q: You knew before the game last night, with the win that Washington had Saturday, that the playoffs weren’t going to be in reach. Was there any sort of emotional letdown after that realization kind of sunk in?

A: Of course, you’re going to be disappointed. You work hard all offseason, you do everything to try to make the playoffs and be a contender and try to win a championship. When you realize that you’re not going past the regular season, there is always going to be a disappointment but you still want to go out there and play well. You still understand that you have a job to do, and you care about your teammates and your craft, your ownership, and the fans, and your coaches and you want to play well for all of those people and still try to go out there and win. It’s still fun to win, it’s still fun to play well, it’s still exciting to be out there on the field and you never want to take that for granted. If you’re going to be out there, you want to go out there and play well and enjoy the experience.

Q: What’s your sense of how Tom Coughlin is handling this, either emotionally or just in the way that he’s coaching you guys every day?

A: He always gets us ready. We’ve had some tough losses, some disappointing losses, and tough situations that might have been tough for a team to handle, but I thought we handled it well and came back each and every week. We got in some fourth quarter games and were able to overcome it and win some tough ones, but we still had a lot coming off of last second field goals, last second plays, but he kept our spirits high, us focused, and prepared to play each and every game.

Q: Do you guys feel like you let him [Coughlin] down in a way?

A: Yeah. I think obviously he’s doing a good job getting us prepared and we have to do a better job of playing better, finishing games, and doing our job. We’ve been right there, the opportunities have been there, and we didn’t make plays in critical moments of the game. In each loss, there’s always going to be something that could have been a different statement that we could have made that could have been the difference in the game, and those are the times where you have to make those plays, and we didn’t do it.

Q: Has Tom brought up his situation at all this year, including after last night’s game, and maybe today?

A: No, he hasn’t brought it up. We haven’t seen him today, but no he has not.

Q: How much do you think about that, the possibility that they could make a change there?

A: He’s done a good job not bringing it up and as a player, I think you stay focused on what the task is ahead of you. You get ready for the game plan and going out there and doing your job. Obviously, I have great respect for him, I wanted to do my job and do my job well, and get into the playoffs and have a big season, so he could continue to be the head coach. I have such respect for him and he’s the only coach I’ve had in the NFL, and in that sense, [I] feel disappointed that I wasn’t able to play at a better level for him.

Q: You’ve seen this roster turnover two, three, four times in your 12 years. It’s virtually a new team from when you started with certainly. The only thing you haven’t seen is a new head coach, how difficult do you think that might be or will be? I mean, you’ve seen your contemporaries go through a bunch of different coaches and you never had to do that.

A: I really don’t know, it’s not on my mind right now. What’s on my mind is finishing this season and trying to finish the season strong and getting a win versus Philadelphia and end on a high note. We’ll see what happens after that.
Back to the Corner