Transcript: Quarterback Eli Manning

Quarterback Eli Manning

August 19, 2015





Q: Eli, do you think at all about your contract day to day? Do you just let your agent take care of all that stuff?

A: No, my focus is on practice and getting the best out of our practices and getting better. So that’s all that I’m focusing on and nothing’s changed, nothing’s different. Reports are all wrong and I don’t know where they’re getting their information from, I just kind of laugh at it.



Q: Would you like to get this done before the start of the season or does it matter?

A: Again, I’m just not thinking about it. I’m not concerned about it. If it happens, when it happens, it’s not on my radar right now.



Q: You say the reports are wrong?

A: Sure.



Q: So you don’t want to be the highest paid player in NFL Football?

A: No. No. Never been said. Never come out of my mouth. Never said it to my agent, never said it, so I don’t know where the reports are coming from.



Q: Do you get updates from him about this or is this something you’re not even in the loop?

A: Yeah, you know, talk to him every once in a while but I don’t like to get updates every second. If something comes up, I tell him to call me or keep me updated or send me a text.



Q: Does that upset you, does it embarrass you when you hear all that stuff?

A: Eh, you know. I’ve been here long enough, you understand reports come out but I guess you wonder how, if it’s a guy just making something up to make a name for himself or I don’t know what his purpose in saying it is.



Q: When you hear something like that, is the first thing you think about—all of us around here know you pretty well and have been around you and know that’s not something that would come out of your mouth. How preposterous does it sound when you see a report like that?

A: I didn’t see it. I actually got a voicemail from my dad and he was saying—he was probably upset about it, so I got a voicemail from him and then I called Pat Hanlon, our media guy, just to see what was going on or what was being said since I didn’t know all the information. He said he didn’t really trust the source and not many people were buying into it, doesn’t sound like you and the source is not very reliable.



Q: You say you never say it, but obviously you don’t think it’s your agent? Tom Condon has never confessed he said something?

A: I don’t think that’s what he was saying. I don’t know how negotiating goes and what’s being asked and this and that. I don’t think I want to know and it was never said by him claiming that this is the goal of what we’re trying to do.



Q: You’ve always been linked to Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, obviously, since you were drafted. This is another thing you’re being linked to. Ben’s got his contract, Philip’s got his contract and you’re aware of that. You think that this will be your turn next since you’re in the same class as those guys?

A: I don’t compare myself to other quarterbacks by their salary and by their contract. Again, I’ve been blessed to play in this league for so many years and still blessed to play this year. I’m going to do my job and that’s all I concern myself with.



Q: The offense last week had some struggles. Going forward, do you feel like you corrected some of those issues, do you feel like you’ll be able to..

A: I think we’ve had some good practices this week and I thought we had some good practices versus the Bengals. That’s football, sometimes. We had some plays that we need to make that we’ve got to go make them on the field, we’ve got to make them on game days. I don’t think there’s a case of us doing things incorrectly, we’ve just got to do them a little bit better. I think we’re on the right process of getting better, and I think it’ll show up this weekend.



Q: What kind of leaps and progress do you expect an offense to make in Ben (McAdoo)’s second year? Last year was a learning process.

A: I think we should be better off early on in the season and have a better understanding of what we’re trying to do. Some of the adjustments are playing faster, making adjustments, changing plays, getting different checks, changing protection. Everything should be a little smoother operation. I think even this past week, it’s been good. I think we’ve had Victor out there a little more, had Odell out there, seems like I’m getting more reps with them than early on in training camp. They were a little bit limited and sometimes I’d go a couple practices and it seemed like I didn’t throw them any passes because they were getting limited amount of reps and those reps, I might have not been working their way based on the coverage. I feel like we’re hitting some more plays and been sharper this past week.



Q: How much a difference do you see when you look out there at the offense between now and last year? What do you see that is different?

A: A lot of difference. Just sharper, playing faster, making changes in the plays. We just don’t have as many mental mistakes. Last year, a lot of mental mistakes, lot of people thinking new concepts are going in and messing up those concepts and forgetting about the old concepts that were already put in and everybody was new to it. Obviously, this year only a few guys are new. You have the rookies and you have the new guys making a few mistakes, but for the most part the veterans are doing things correctly and playing fast.



Q: How much has the playbook changed, if at all?

A: There’s always going to be new additions and new concepts that you’re going to work on and try to get things going, but for the most part, the system is in. It’s just about growing within it and getting more comfortable with more concepts.



Q: Tom Coughlin just said Cruz has a little bit of a calf issue and won’t practice today. Given the optimism that everybody was hoping he’d get to a preseason game, how disappointing is that he has a little bit of an issue?

A: That’s news to me, so I’m just learning that right now. Like I said, I thought we’ve had good work with him, getting him in more plays, more action, and hopefully he’ll get back out there soon. But obviously we’re getting a lot of work in practice and it’s always good to get live game work but the practice work is good also.



Q: What would you like to accomplish most this week in the second game?

A: Obviously, put some points on the board and get some drives going, sustain some drives. Hopefully be able to get out there, set the tempo, play fast with the offense, get some first downs and get into a good rhythm with the offense.