Eli Manning has done plenty in his NFL career, now in its 10th season, but he has never beaten older brother Peyton, who is 2-0 against Eli, beating him with twice with the Colts.
Eli gets another shot — most likely the last shot — Sunday when the Giants face the Broncos in Manning Bowl III.
“It’s obviously a big game,” Manning said Monday on his weekly WFAN spot. “It’s a big game for us because of the circumstances. We’re 0-1 right now and playing a team that had one of the best records in the NFL last year if not the best.
And they’re off a big win beating Baltimore, so we have to bounce back and offensively we have to play better and we have to find a way to win this game. It’s a big game because of where it stands in the season and what it means for this team.”
It also will be a big game in the Manning household and that means Eli won’t be discussing the upcoming game much, if at all, this week with Peyton.
“I guess we might have a quick conversation,” Eli said. “It’ll be pretty much strictly on family or something else. We probably won’t talk much about the previous games we’ve played. You don’t want to give any tips. I don’t want to talk about what we’re doing offensively and give him anything to tell his defensive coordinator and vice versa, so it’ll be a fairly quick conversation and maybe just kind of just a little brotherly chat but obviously no football will be discussed.”
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Perhaps the Giants can get CB Prince Amukamara (concussion) back this week.
“I know he’s feeling better, he felt pretty good last night, to be honest with you,’’ coach Tom Coughlin said. “He didn’t seem to have any repercussions but he does have to go through the protocol.’’
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First-round pick Justin Pugh at right tackle and third-year James Brewer at left guard made their NFL starting debuts Sunday night, with mixed results.
“Quite frankly there’s some good and some bad, just like there always is when a young player has an opportunity like that,’’ Coughlin said.
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In their opening 36-31 loss to the Cowboys the Giants had three players (Victor Cruz Hakeem Nicks and Rueben Randle) with more than 100 receiving yards in a game for the first time in franchise history. … DE Jason Pierre-Paul did not want to play in spot duty and he didn’t. He was on the field for 50 snaps. CB Terrell Thomas, returning after missing the past two seasons with two ACL surgeries, was in for 38 plays. … DE Adewale Ojomo was waived. He was signed off the practice squad in case Pierre-Paul was not able to play in the opener. Ojomo was inactive for the game.