As the Giants offensive coordinator, Kevin Gilbride admits he worries about everything on his side of the ball. So, yes, he is worried about the alarming number of interceptions thrown by Eli Manning, who has an NFL-high seven in the first two games.
But no, Gilbride says, he’s not worried about how Manning will handle this turnover spree.
“Obviously I worry about it, but if ever there’s a guy that has his feet firmly on the ground and seems to be able to handle the vicissitudes of the game and life, it’s that guy,’’ Gilbride said Thursday after practice. “He’s about as stable as you can go. Does it bother him? It’s killing him. If you get too many, does it get to a point where it affects and detracts from your confidence? There’s no question. I don’t care who you are. It does. But if there’s ever a guy that you’re not going to worry about or will take a long time before that happens, it’s him.’’
Manning always says there’s a story behind every interception. Gilbride looks back on the three Manning threw in last week’s 41-23 loss to the Broncos and sees a quarterback trying to do too much to make a play.
“It’s a couple at the end, and I think he’s just trying to get us back in there, which I wish he wouldn’t do,’’ Gilbride said. “He’s just trying to think maybe we get an interference [penalty] or Rueben [Randle] goes up and gets it. But the one before the half was very costly. I think he was trying to throw it away and then the one that got kicked up in the air was kind of reminiscent of what happened the week before with the two screen passes.
“It’s hard enough to win when you’re not helping and aiding the enemy, so we’ve got to cut down on those things and certainly getting the running game better will improve the odds of us doing that.”