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Don't try to tell New York Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo that his scheme is not a fit for quarterback Eli Manning. The Giants' first-year offensive coordinator bristled at that suggestion Thursday.
"He is a perfect fit for this offense. He is very smart. I thought that if there was anything encouraging about what happened in the game, it was the comfort level in his feet and the progress that he is making fundamentally. He is seeing things, he is not 100 percent, but who is? At the same point in time, he is making progress and I have 100 percent confidence in Eli Manning," McAdoo said.
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McAdoo was asked about Cardinals' coach Bruce Arians, who made a similar transition with quarterback Carson Palmer a season ago, suggesting it could take half the season for the Giants to become comfortable offensively.
"We prefer to kick in on Sunday instead of Week 8," McAdoo said. "I will say this, in 2007 we came up here when I was with Green Bay and played the Giants and they were struggling at the time on defense. Then we had a chance to play them in the championship game that year. It was interesting on how they looked on film and the progress that they made and how impressive they were.
"At the end of the day we are going to trust who were are, we are going to trust the character in the room, trust the fundamentals, we are going to count on the chemistry to kick in. We are not going to apologize for it."
Despite the team's struggles on Monday in a 35-14 loss to the Detroit Lions, McAdoo insisted "there are definitely signs that things are starting to click."
McAdoo was asked about getting the ball to wide receiver Victor Cruz, who said during the week that he needs to be targeted more often.
"You would like to get all your play-makers a touch early," McAdoo said. "That is easier said than done. Again, the way I believe it goes into preparation and it goes into practice. I need to do a better job coaching and the players need to do a better job playing, but it starts here."