Former Giant Mario Manningham: 'Who wouldn't be motivated by their old team?'

Some old friends will be reuniting with the New York Giants when they take on the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park on Sunday. One of whom is former Giants' wide receiver Mario Manningham.

Manningham spent four seasons with the Giants. His biggest highlight of his four years was his last one, making a crucial catch at the sidelines in Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots. Going into free agency, he hinted that he would not likely return to New York and in March he signed a two year contract with the San Francisco 49ers.

"Oh man. I couldn't ask for a better team," said Manningham. "Better teammates, better coaching staff, equipment managers, everybody else. Everybody over here is real cool, and down to Earth."

Manningham claims he doesn't hold a grudge against the Giants for not making a real attempt to bring him back, but he does want to show them what they're missing.

"I'm going to go out there and play my butt off. That's just plain and simple," said Manningham. "Do I have a grudge? No. But, am I motivated? Yeah. I'm motivated by every game, especially this game. Who wouldn't be motivated by their old team? I mean that's a player's dream. To go out and beat their old team. We play the Dolphis, that's Ted [Ginn Jr.'s] old team. We play New England and Minnesota, that's Randy [Moss'] old team. Now, it's my time up. So I'm going out there and do what I've gotta do and give it my all. I know they're going to be ready. I know how they roll over there. So, I know they're going to be ready to play."

To no one's surprise, Manningham admitted that he let some of his new teammates know some things about the Giants offense and defense. It also came to no surprise to Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul.

"I'm pretty sure when you leave a team, especially if you've been there for a while, that you're going to tell the other team what you know," said Pierre-Paul. "So we'll be ready for that and it's nothing that we can't handle."

Like Pierre-Paul, Giants' wide receiver Victor Cruz isn't shocked about Manningham giving out pointers to the 49ers. Cruz also isn't worried about his offense getting exploited.

"They're probably spilling the beans over there, but it's expected," said Cruz. "We, as an offense, have probably switched a few things up so they don't have a complete read on what we have going on."

The Giants have done well offensively after losing both Manningham and Brandon Jacobs during the offseason. They've proven their depth iat wide receiver when both Hakeem Nicks and Domenik Hixon sustained injuries, and at running back when Ahmad Bradshaw went down. They hope to have Nicks back this week, as well as Ramses Barden and Andre Brown to make sure that depth is secure.

In other words, with the depth and talent the Giants currently have in wide receiver, Manningham hasn't exactly been missed. Manningham still seems over-confident that he'll prove his worth.

"I know the position that I was playing, and I know the position that I'm in, now. And, I know that I can go out there and go against any corner and win. And, I'm confident about that," said Manningham. " Whoever plays wide receiver and goes up against a corner, and says the corner is going to shut them down? What type of pride would you have? So, me leaving there, and coming over here, and getting more chances to get the ball, I mean, a player really can't ask for more than that."