New York Giants news, 10/2: Eli Manning and the 'elite' word -- again

Good morning, New York Giants fans! Here are your Thursday morning headlines.

Falcons coach Mike Smith: Eli is Elite

Here we go with this again. Eli Manning and the "elite" word. Blame it on Atlanta coach Mike Smith, who used it when asked for his thoughts on the Giants quarterback during a Wednesday conference call with New York media.

"I think Eli is one of the elite quarterbacks in the league. I think you are only as good as your last game in the NFL. I think that is the world that we live in. I think his body of works speaks for itself," Smith said. "He is a two-time Super Bowl champion. The last two weeks he has run Coach [Ben] McAdoo's offense that he brought in almost flawlessly. Everybody wants to jump to conclusions on one game, two games and you have to look at the body of work over a long period of time."

Quotable

"They can tell me one second before the game, I will be ready."

-- Jameel McClain on when he needs to know if he is playing MIKE or SAM

Kiwanuka: No taking Falcons lightly

Could the Giants, with NFC East games vs. the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys coming up, look past the Atlanta Falcons? Not if defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka has anything to say about it.

"Not around here because we understand very recently how hard wins are to come by. We don't take anybody lightly," Kiwanuka said. "Everybody that we are playing against, they are all professionals and we understand that. Yeah, there might be some match up things we want to take advantage of, but we will never take anyone lightly."

Around The Inter-Google

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