As he spoke, Eli Manning said he was icing and getting some electro-stimulation to treat the high left ankle sprain he suffered in the Giants’ final regular-season game. It’s getting better, still not fully healed, but with no games for the immediate future, he has plenty of time to rest up.
Manning sure seemed far, far away from where he was only three years ago, when he was named Super Bowl MVP, again, after leading the Giants to their second Lombardi Trophy in a five-season span. He’s about to embark on an adventure he hasn’t taken since his 2004 rookie year: The Giants have a new offensive coordinator, Ben McAdoo, the former Packers quarterbacks coach. Manning, shaken from his comfort zone, has a brand-new system to learn.
“I think in a way it will be exciting knowing that you’ve got to come in and you’ve got to learn some new things,’’ Manning said Thursday. “Obviously right now I don’t know exactly what the changes will be, if it will be completely changed terminology and formations or if we’ll keep some of those things and just bring in his concepts.
“I think it’s exciting in a sense of kind of having a challenge ahead of me and I look forward to it. Our teammates and offensive guys are all going to have to do some learning, but I look forward to getting everybody together and kind of going through it together and seeing how we can improve.’’
Much improvement is necessary to fix an offense co-owner John Mara said is “broken,’’ an offense that finished 28th in the NFL in 2013 with Manning throwing a league-leading 27 interceptions. Manning, who hoped offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride would return (he retired before he was to be fired) said he got to speak with McAdoo before he was hired and came away impressed, though he does not know what changes are awaiting him. He is hoping some of the system he mastered over the past decade will be retained in some way, shape or form.
“I think the West Coast offense has kind of changed a little bit over the years and a lot of people are running a lot of the same plays,’’ Manning said. “They call it different things, but they’ll have their little tweaks and different things that they do, that they’ve done in Green Bay where [McAdoo] has been under that offense.’’
Manning was in Denver last week, watching big brother Peyton and the Broncos beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, and admitted it brought back some familiar and pleasant memories.
“I am proud of Peyton, and if I’m not going to be playing the game, he’s who I’d want to be playing,’’ Eli said. “Going to a championship game like last week and kind of just being in that excitement … it definitely adds a little fire under you to get back to that scenario. You miss that and having been there before and knowing that feeling, you get jealous of that feeling and that excitement and everything going along with it.
“It kind of makes you want to get back to that situation and kind of get back to working and getting your mind set on doing whatever I have to do to get the Giants back to the championship games and get back to Super Bowls.’’