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Post-Game Transcript: QB Eli Manning

Eric from BBI : Admin : 11/6/2016 6:40 pm
QB Eli Manning

Postgame vs. Eagles, November 6, 2016

Q: How important for you guys to a two-touchdown lead?

A: That was a big emphasis, try and get off to a fast start. Defense did a great job getting turnovers and offense capitalizing on that, getting two touchdowns, third down conversion on one, hitting Roger Lewis on the post, hitting Odell on the slant. So, a couple of big plays, that was good. Defense played outstanding all game. Offensively, had a couple of good drives, did some good things. But, hey, it was good to get a win. We're finding ways to win close games and tough games and that's what you have to do in this league.

Q: What was going through your mind on that last interception?

A: Well, it's just unfortunate. Will Tye ran a good route, got a guy open, ball gets tipped at the line of scrimmage, so it's just unfortunate. I hate tipped balls, I hate cheap interceptions and that's kind of as cheap as they come with the tipped ball at the line of scrimmage. We had a good play, everybody did the right thing and you have to give credit to them, their defensive line getting a hand up and getting a piece of the ball.

Q: I saw you watching it again on the screen. What's that like to be on the field watching that again?

A: It's tough. It's tough, keep interceptions where they call them, where guys are doing things right, you're in the pocket, you're seeing things, you've got a guy open, you know he's open, you throw it on time, you're having a completion, you're about to close out the game possibly and the ball’s tipped. It's unfortunate they got a couple of tipped balls today.

Q: When you make a throw like that, do you have to anticipate it before you release that a guy might throw his arms up there?

A: No.

Q: What about Odell's interception?

A: Same with Odell. That's another one. Good play, again, had a slant, thought I threw a pretty good ball. He had the ball and whether the ground caused it to come out or the ball popped out, again, another kind of cheap interception. We did better not turning the ball over, obviously those two, they're turnovers, they happen unfortunately. A few interceptions, you hate to put those against the stats because I thought we threw the ball smartly, we were safe with the football today.

Q: On offensive personnel.

A: I think that everybody knows that you’ve got to be ready. The ball is going to be spread around. Defenses are going to play different coverages, we might have certain plays that go to one guy or a certain guy where you're the first read but, hey, they're playing lots of different coverages, mixing up things. So everybody has to be ready and guys were stepping up and making some nice plays so we have to continue to do that.

Q: On defensive 4th quarter stops.

A: It's great to have. We hate to put them in that position. We want to be able to close out games and go score points and get double-digit leads to end the game and that's what we have to do as an offense. I thought we did a pretty good job in that situation, rushed the ball for a first down, we got a 3rd and 4 and we got a good play; really, a good opportunity to end the game. But, probably the defense, they're stepping up, making big time plays in clutch situations. Especially playing strong down there in the red zone and holding teams to either field goals or turnovers on downs, a couple of them today. They're playing good football and it's good to have on your side.

Q: You had two under the radar rookies doing great, Roger Lewis Jr and Jerell Adams. What does it say about them, guys who can make a big impact?

A: Roger had a good camp, he's here all spring and he's playing well. When Victor Cruz was out a bunch, Roger was getting a lot of reps so he was kind our starting outside receiver for a lot of training camp, a lot of OTA's and came on and did well. Today, had a nice catch on the post. He's still learning some things, had an opportunity to hit him on a 3rd down conversion on the left sideline and he has to learn to go up and be able to take a hit right there. Also on a free play on the right sideline, a chance to hit a big play. He's doing some good things and that's good to see. Obviously I don't know what Victor's status is, but he's going to have to play for us and he's going to have to play well.

Q: You looked like you were beating yourself up over that Odell pass in the first half?

A: Yeah, it was one of those where I didn't feel like I overthrew it. Sometimes you can tell, you release and you're like 'oh, I think I put too much juice on it.' I saw him go on the line and I thought I threw it up there, just kind of, I wasn't trying to lead him with a perfect ball really. I saw him have a big jump and I thought I put it out there in a good spot. I don't know if the sun got in his eyes, where he just didn't find the ball soon enough or didn't have that second kind of burst, explosion that he normally does when he sees the ball coming. I kind of asked him if the sun got in his eyes and he said, yeah, took him a while to find the ball. Maybe that's a reason but we have to hit that one.

Q: On Paul Perkins.

A: Paul does some good things. He ran the ball tough right there in that situation. Had a couple of nice jobs on the screen. Had a screen earlier too and I thought he rushed it a little bit and got tackled. On the next couple, he did a good job being patient, setting up the blockers, having a better feel. He's good in the pass game and protections and running the ball well for us.

Q: Did you feel better about the offense today? Was it a big step, a tiny step?

A: We did some good things. Hit a couple of big plays, hit a post, hit Shepard on the touchdown. We were much better in the red and green zone areas, scoring touchdowns. We converted some nice third downs. There were things that were positive and, hey, you're always in a process of improving, getting better. We have to be better on some third downs, too many negative plays where we're going backward and putting ourselves in a bind. Overall, I thought we did some good things against a good defense.

Q: Was this a special win against the Eagles at home?

A: Definitely a big win in the division. Philadelphia, the last few years has had our number. We've played close games but haven't been able to win those close games, so to be able to pull it off today and get that win was nice.

Q: When Justin Pugh went down today how do you think guys like Brett Jones did in his absence?

A: I thought Brett stepped in there and played well. He's a smart guy, knows what he's doing, been here a little bit so he's played some center for us already this year so he knows how to play guard, he knows what he's doing. I thought he came in and did well.

Q: You've lost a lot of close games the last couple of years, do you feel like you're turning a corner?

A: Yeah, it seems that way. I think just with the leadership we have and guys. Obviously defense, we put them in a situation where they've had to make some plays and obviously we had the lead so it's good. But offensively, we've made some nice plays also in games and scoring points and making drives to win. Thinking earlier to the year like in Dallas and against New Orleans. We're finding ways to win and that's what good teams have to do. It's not always perfect, there's things you can clean up for sure, but you come into the fourth quarter, you have to find ways to win the tough games, the close games and that's what we're doing.
Go look at the game thread and see how many posters  
shelovesnycsports : 11/6/2016 9:33 pm : link
killed Eli for the that throw to Odell in the end of the first half. Even Buck and Aikmen were saying Odell didn't get there because he was held up. He admits Odell usually gets to those.
Not easy to overthrow OBJ  
Jimmy Googs : 11/6/2016 10:04 pm : link
he was running threw the sun's glare so maybe he wasn't going at the speed he usually would with good eyes on the ball.

Guys dropped too many passes for Eli today. He did have way too many tipped passes so our rookie QB needs to watch staring down his receivers. :-)

Can we stop having these games that always have the last play with balls being thrown into our endzone already....

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