Eli Manning is coming off a one of his worst seasons ever, and you would expect the Giants quarterback to not look anywhere but up after a rock-bottom year.
After finishing 2013 with a career-high 27 interceptions to go with just 18 touchdowns, his fewest since his rookie year, Manning could realistically say it couldn't get any worse.
But Manning admits that learning the system of new coordinator Ben McAdoo could make things tough as he enters training camp after a disappointing 7-9 campaign.
“Yeah, it is different. You come into the season a little nervous; you just don’t have [the same comfort],’’ Manning told the New York Post. “You have a good feel for it, but not to where I want it to be. That’s with repetition and more plays. It’s a different feeling this time of year than in previous years. We’ve still got a lot of work to do and a lot to improve on to get comfortable, myself with my teammates and everything that goes on with being successful in an offense. I know we’ve got a lot of work to do. But we’re excited about that challenge.’’
Manning says his surgically repaired ankle is completely healed and he won't be physically challenged by it. Now he just needs to grasp the new offense well enough that he throws a lot fewer than 27 interceptions, and a lot more than 18 touchdown passes, this year.
“The ankle feels great, 100 percent. Don’t feel it, don’t think about it. It’s not an issue,’’ Manning said. “I’m excited; excited to be in another training camp, get the season kicked off and get back to work. It’s an exciting time. This is what you look forward to.”
Manning also claims he isn’t the slightest bit worried about practicing with his host of new teammates or the retirement of O-line stalwart Chris Snee.
"We’ve got to have a lot of communication, make sure we’re communicating the same thing on our calls and on our checks, changing up cadence," he said about the fresh faces surrounding him. "You throw everything out there that you want to do — you can’t hold things back because you’ve got some new guys."
Would Eli just make his mind up already....one minute its good and he's comfortable at OTA's, now its' "...a little nervous." Oy, here we go again......
ReplyDeleteEli will be fine....should see a great improvement from last season. There will be more offensive options than previous seasons and he may be a 5,000 yrd contender.
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