Eli Manning wants 0-4 Giants to try to stay upbeat
Losing stinks, but Eli Manning believes nothing is gained by moping. So even with the Giants stuck in an 0-4 abyss, he’d like to see some levity.
“You can still have fun,” the quarterback said Tuesday in a locker room that in some ways was still smarting from a two-point loss to the Bucs on a last-second field goal less than 48 hours earlier. “Still have fun doing your job.”
As a leader on the team — really, the leader of leaders on the team — Manning said it’s up to the veterans to make sure that everyone is still enjoying themselves despite the perilous situation. That may sound counterintuitive. No one likes losing, no one likes having the season collapse in the first month.
What he wants is a little more looseness. A little bit of the excitement that drew these guys to the sport when they were younger. To tap into that energy.
“It’s still about enjoying the process of getting better, of figuring out how we’re going to work and getting them excited about the plays that are coming up,” he said. “Excited about the opportunities of where they might get the ball or how we’re going to score and how we’re going to win this game.”
Wide receiver Brandon Marshall has his own way of dealing with the situation. He spoke about the hardships of growing up poor, something many of his teammates can relate to, to keep things in perspective.
“Being 0-4, it stinks, but there’s worse things in life,” Marshall said. “And half the guys in this room have been through them. This is our job, we’re paid to do a job and we’ve got to get it done. We just need to find a win. We find a win, the environment will be so much better.”
For many younger players, this is their first time dealing with adversity. Most have been stars their whole lives, from high school through college. When those eyes turn toward him, Manning said it’s important that they see the same quarterback they saw prior to the Cowboys game, when the Giants were brimming with optimism.
“It’s just trying to do your job and make sure everybody sees how you’re handling the circumstance,” he said. “Every loss is tough and every one hurts, and it should hurt. We work hard to try and get a win and when you lose when you compete and you have opportunities to win and you don’t do it, it hurts. But, I think as soon as you start preparing for the next game, looking at the film, looking at concepts, you’ve got to get over it and figure out how you’re going to win this next one.”
How do the Giants do that?
“There’s not a magic trick to get a win,” he said. “There’s not any outside help. It’s you keep working hard, you keep preparing and you go out there and you make plays on Sunday that will give ourselves a chance to win. You just have to keep doing the right things and keep preparing the same way and just play a little bit better.”
Manning has been through this before. In 2013 he was the quarterback of an 0-6 team. That was one of the most trying times any of those players had during their NFL careers. His 2014 Giants lost seven straight in the middle of the season.
But Manning was also on the 2011 team that lost four straight and five of six. It wasn’t at the start of the season, but the Giants were able to overcome it and win a Super Bowl.
Manning has pointed out there are no runaway dominant teams in the NFC, and certainly not in the NFC East. The Eagles are in first place at 3-1, followed by Dallas and Washington at 2-2. Time, though, is running out on that crutch, which is why Sunday’s game against the Chargers is so important.
“Let’s give ourselves a chance,” Manning said. “No one knows what’s going to happen, but if we don’t start winning soon, we will know what’s going to happen.”
And that won’t be fun at all.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
