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Thursday Media Transcript: QB Eli Manning

Eric from BBI : Admin : 12/10/2015 3:33 pm
QB Eli Manning

December 10, 2015

Q: Down the stretch, what’s your approach?

A: Just find ways to win. So I think we obviously have played a lot of close ones, but I think just get the mindset we’ve got to finish. We’ve got to finish the season strong, we’ve got to finish games strong, we’ve got to finish practices strong, everything. Right now the mindset of finishing better and that’s our challenge.

Q: Have you lost any belief in your teammates, in your team, in yourself?

A: Definitely not. No, you can’t do that. We’ve been right there, we’ve played teams tough, and we’ve done a lot of good things and we’ve got to continue to do good things and just clean some things up. When things get tighter, the pressure gets on, and that’s when we’ve got to raise our level of play.

Q: We were entertained this morning because Tom Coughlin did jumping jacks when he told us his reaction to the Cowboys-Redskins game. Have you ever seen that reaction from him?

A: I’ve seen the jumping jacks, yeah. They’re impressive. They’re very impressive. I’ve seen the jumping jacks a few times.

Q: How’s the ankle after today?

A: Feels great. No issues.

Q: What about this Miami football team defensively? What are your concerns?

A: They’ve got a talented front four, they do a good job getting pressure. Especially, I know earlier in the season they weren’t getting many sacks, lately been getting a lot of sacks, a lot of hits on the quarterback, so we’ve got to control that front four, block them up, get the ball out quickly, find completions and we’ll be in good shape.

Q: You’ve been through some crazy races in the NFC East before, but this one’s different because the teams are all playing from below .500. What are your thoughts of this race?

A: You never know. As long as you’re in the race, that’s the most important thing. Usually it comes down to December. What happens in December, who’s got the best record, who wins these matchups.

Q: Rueben Randle had a pretty big season for you guys last year and his numbers are dipping this season. We asked Tom Coughlin about it and he said he has to take advantage of the opportunities he’s been given. Do you see Rueben getting enough opportunities or the reason why his numbers have dipped?

A: No, it just depends on what coverages are coming up, just how things work out, where you happen to be lined up in certain plays. I think Rueben has done a good job, I have great confidence and faith that if the read is taking the ball his way, then he’s going to make the plays for us.

Q: You talk a lot about finding a second option after Odell Beckham. Is that as important to you to find one guy to take the pressure off him?

A: I think it’s got to be everybody’s job; it can’t be just one guy. The way the offense is set up, it’s not, ‘hey, throw to Odell then look for someone else.’ It’s all based on the reads and where certain guys are and based on the coverage, so everybody has the responsibility to get open. Everybody can be the number one receiver on the play based on what the defense is doing.

Q: If you look at the Dolphins, they struggle stopping the run, so it’d probably be easy to run against them. Can you guys run? You’ve struggled all year with it.

A: We’ve got to run the ball, we’re going to run it. We’ve got to run, we’ve got to be effective with it because that will help out, that will slow down the pass rush, that will help out the play action and do everything. Hopefully we’re going to run it and we run the ball well.

Q: Are you confident you can do that?

A: Yeah, I think we can do it. I think we can make some plays in the run game and be efficient.

Q: Most times when people go up against a tough front seven, people are talking about the linebacker or guys off the edges. With the Dolphins, doesn’t it start with Ndamukong Suh?

A: Yeah, he’s a big man in there. So he does a great job with the run, with the pass, getting pressure right up the middle which, for quarterbacks, makes it tough, can’t step into throws and collapse the pocket a little bit. But hey, they’ve got a number of guys. They do a good job getting to the quarterback and not with blitzes, just a lot of times bringing in their front four, and so we’ve got to block those guys up.

Q: Is it time now because you got such good breaks in the Dallas win to take advantage of it finally? This is huge now.

A: Yeah, no doubt. This is a big one and we’re excited. We’re excited for the opportunity and we’re excited to see how this whole thing is going to shake out and we’ve got a great opportunity and we’ve got to take advantage of it.
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