Just my luck. New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning decides to talk to the assembled media, and I was not over at camp. Fortunately for me, and you, I have all the particulars thanks to the excellent folks in the Giants' communications department (and yes, that qualifies as a little brown-nosing).
There were, of course, contract questions. Which Eli declined to discuss. Also, of course, there were lots of wide receiver questions. Eli, of course, spoke highly of his 2009 targets.
Here are some snippets.
Q: Have you gotten a feel yet for your receivers?
A: Yeah. The guys are doing well. We’re throwing a lot at them. They’re getting reps and we’re going to make mistakes, that’s part of learning, but we’re not repeating the same mistakes and that’s a good thing. We’re getting different looks, different coverages, and different reads, and they’re making plays. They’re hitting a lot of big plays. There are some mistakes we’ve got to fix, but that’s why you go to training camp and that’s why we’ve had all these practices, to work out all the kinks. We’re throwing a lot of things at them right now and once you get into a game situation and you’ll have a smaller playbook, fewer plays and you can concentrate more on those things. For the most part they’re doing well and they’re competing and working hard and I like that. There have been some big plays out there, more than we’ve had in the past, and that’s exciting.
Q: There have been a lot of interceptions in camp. Is that because you’re just getting familiar with some of the guys?
A: Yeah, you never like interceptions but in a way you’ve got to see what guys are capable of. You’ve got to give them some shots and see if they can go get the ball for you. Some of the mistakes are just being on the field on the wrong page and that’s what you learn from. There’ll be some trial and error there, but a lot of it is just little things and when one person does something a little wrong it can screw up the whole route but we’ve got to cut down on the interceptions. That’s always a must but I think there should be less and less as we get further into camp just because guys should be doing the right things and…
My take: This is something I had been wondering about. How many of these interceptions are coming on balls Eli is putting out there simply to find out how one of the young receivers will react? That has to be the case on occasion, particularly down the field.
Q: Any of these receivers surprise or impress you?
A: A lot of guys are doing well. I think Ramses [Barden] is doing really well, he’s a big target, he makes the plays, he seems like he has a pretty good feel for what is going on. Sinorice [Moss] is doing well and making some big plays, [Mario] Manningham is getting down the field and doing some good stuff so guys are doing well. It’s just about continuing to get reps and get better.
-- Read the full Eli Manning transcript
-- Tom Coughlin's morning press briefing