NFL

Eli Manning can’t afford ‘to go through the motions’ this offseason

A sure-fire way to get a student to groan is to assign extra homework — but if Eli Manning is whining, he’s keeping it to himself.

Eli and the Giants were not much fun to watch in 2013, and as a result, there’s a new offensive coordinator (Ben McAdoo) and a brand-new West Coast offense to learn. By necessity, Manning has been shaken out of his comfort zone and, as he learns and relearns how to run this new system, he’s taken far more work home with him than ever before.

“Yeah, this year over past years, for sure,’’ Manning said Monday afternoon at a Guiding Eyes for the Blind event at Mount Kisco Country Club. “It’s different. When you’ve been in the same offense for 10 years, you’re not always grinding over the installation of what play or had to think about, ‘Hey, what’s the back doing on this route’ or ‘What route can I maybe change it to to get a better route?’ You’ve gone through all those thinking processes.’’

As if to prove his point, Manning revealed as he was driven over to Westchester he wasn’t looking out the window at the scenery but instead was reviewing what went on earlier in the day at the Giants’ seventh organized team activity practice. No time to waste with so much to do.

“I was looking at it, watching practice, watching the practice for [Tuesday] and looking at the installation and old notes just trying to get as prepared as possible for each practice,’’ he said.

One benefit to this year is that, unlike past spring workouts, Manning has all his receivers on the field with him. Last year, Victor Cruz (no contract) and Hakeem Nicks (reasons unknown) stayed away from the OTAs and the passing game never got in sync once the season started.

“Every day is a challenge,’’ Manning said. “You’re not going in there just to have practice and just kind of going through the motions.’’

As far as his sense of what this all will add up to, Manning isn’t quite sure.

“Each year you always feel you have talent and you can do great things,’’ he said. “It’s just a matter of can you put it all together, can guys stay healthy, can some young guys step up for you and start playing at a high level? I think I feel good about what our offense can do and the potential of it, it’s just getting to the point where we have a great mastery of it from the mental capacity.’’