QB Eli Manning -- November 8, 2018
Q: Does any part of you feel refreshed coming off the bye week?
A: I think always when you get a little break, just let the body and mind heel up, and get excited and get ready for the second half of the season. I look forward to getting back on track, and improving on some things, and playing good football.
Q: Coach Shurmur said you both had a great conversation over the break. Can you elaborate on how that conversation went?
A: Just get ready for the second half. Go play well. We need to improve. Everybody needs to improve and get going, but I do feel like we’re close. We just got to score some more points.
Q: For you personally, do you feel as if there’s a little more urgency going into this game given the record?
A: I think there’s urgency to get things going, for sure. We got to get some wins. We got to get going, and everybody wants it. The team needs it, for the morale and for just the hard work and everything we put in. Just need to reap the benefits of the work, and feel good about what we’re doing.
Q: It was a year ago today, you were in the same position with one win on your record, facing another one-win team. How stunned are you to be in this position again a year later?
A: I just worry about going out there and try to get the win this time, and just handle our business.
Q: When we asked Pat (Shurmur) about your status for this week, he said you’re starting, but wouldn’t guarantee anything beyond that. What was your reaction to that?
A: You worry about this week. We got the 49ers. I got a job to do, and I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.
Q: Do you appreciate Shurmur’s transparency as far as having those multiple conversations at this time, as opposed to not communicating with you?
A: Yeah, it’s always good. Communication is important. We’ve always been good at that, and be on the same page. It’s always helpful just knowing where everybody stands.
Q: When you look back at what’s happened the last eight games, what do you feel like has been missing?
A: I think it’s just scoring more points in the red zone. I feel like we’re moving the ball well. I feel like we’ve made improvements between the first four games, and the second four games. Getting yards and moving the ball, and getting down there, and being a little bit more explosive. Now, we need to translate that into more touchdowns.
Q: Why do you think it’s been a struggle to score in the red zone?
A: Every time has its own reason. It still always comes down to execution, whether you run the ball, whether you’re throwing the ball. Avoid the negative plays. We got into some third-and-long situations. There’s some fourth downs we hadn’t converted. It’s just executing a little bit better.
Q: What was your reaction and what did you say to (QB) Kyle (Lauletta) after the incident he had last week?
A: I understand it’s a tough, tough situation. Just try to support him, and knowing that this will get forgotten about. It could be a lot worse. It’ll kind of be water under the bridge in a little bit.
Q: (TE) Evan Engram has been having trouble catching the football. Coach Shurmur says that nobody works harder on catching the football that Evan. Can you talk about that?
A: Evan, he works hard. He want to do everything right. He puts a lot of work into it. He’s going to make some plays for us. He’s too good of a player and athlete. We got to get him going in helping out this offense.
