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Eli Manning is one of the few members of the New York Giants who has been through a run to the playoffs. With the Giants at 7-3, Manning was asked on Tuesday if the current team bore any similarities to the championship teams he has played on.
“We’re winning close games. That’s what you have to do in this league,” Manning said. “You have a confidence that when you get in the fourth quarter and in these close games, we’re going to be able to pull it out.”
The Giants are off to their best start since going 9-1 to begin the 2008 season.
“It feels good. We’re winning football games and doing some things well. We just have to stay hungry and keep competing. Keep working on getting better each and every week,” Manning said. “We just have to stay the course. Definitely room for improvement. We’re not scoring, from an offensive standpoint we can score more points. We can finish games a little bit better. We’re doing a lot of good things and we have to keep that going.”
Eli Apple: Rookie year “going okay”
Rookie cornerback Eli Apple has bounced back nicely from a second-half benching a couple of weeks ago against the Philadelphia Eagles. He has also worked his way through leg injuries that forced him to miss two games earlier in the season. He played 62 of 64 defensive snaps on Sunday against the Chicago Bears. So, how is his rookie season going?
“It is going okay. I am learning a lot. I am still young in the game, so I still have a lot more to learn,” Apple said this week. “I am looking forward to the six more games that we have left in the regular season. I am trying to get better every game.”
Windiest game at MetLife Stadium
Placekicker Robbie Gould missed two extra points Sunday against Chicago. Long-snapper Zak DeOssie, with the Giants since 2007, said it was the “windiest game in that new stadium.”
“Sometimes we get some gusts over the years like Sunday was, but this was a consistent cross wind that was strong. Gusts were even higher. It was an interesting game to play in,” DeOssie said.
Punter Brad Wing said he was in “survival mode” just trying to catch DeOssie’s snaps.
“The second to last punt, the thing moved around a good three to four feet,” Wing said. “It was insane. Zak snapped it to the right of me thinking the wind would bring it back. It just gusted and it moved the ball a lot. It went from my right all the way to my left. It moved a lot. It caught me by surprise a little bit. The guys did really well adjusting and handling that.”
Wing still managed to average 44.5 yards per punt with a net average of 42.5 yards.