Sports Radio Interviews

Eli Manning: ‘It’s a little tender but hopefully my goal is to try to get back so I can do some stuff Wednesday in practice.”

It remains to be seen whether Eli Manning will be out for next Sunday’s game against the Raiders.  After injuring his foot on Sunday, Eli underwent an MRI where it was revealed that he has plantar fasciitis.  Any word that ends with an “-itis” doesn’t seem to be a good thing, but in this case it is not so bad.  Eli is a tough player and wants to be battling out there on the field with his teammates and do what he can to help the team win.  I do recall him hurting his shoulder and supposedly he was going to be out for a month and he was back the next week. This injury doesn’t seem to be as bad as initially thought.  Eli has stated that the pain is only in the heel portion of the foot and not the whole foot.  If I were a betting man I would say that he is going to play this weekend, 100%.  After all, it is his left foot that is hurt and not the one that he places all his weight on when he throws the football.

Eli Manning joined 1050 ESPN Radio in New York to talk about his injury, how he feels, how he was injured, and whether he could play tomorrow if there was a game.

On how he feels after the game:

“I am a little sore…It’s a little bit more sore than normal after a game and I went and got an MRI. It didn’t really come back with anything new.  It just kind of shows you where the inflammation is and I just really have to take it day by day.  There is no secret to healing this. Just try and ice it and give it time and staying off of it.  Hopefully I feel better tomorrow and just get better each day.”

On whether he has Plantar Fasciitis:

“Yeah I guess that is technically what it is.  That foot beneath your foot it’s just kind of in the heel portion is just a little tender right now.”  (Editor’s note:  yes Eli said this.  He must have three feet)

On the pain his foot is causing and what the doctors have told him: 

“You know that is pretty much what they said:  How can you deal with it?  How do you feel as the game gets closer and by the week?  Again from talking to the doctor, it is not a serious injury.  He has seen before where it is the whole foot is hurting, but this is just kind of a portion of it…  The doctor didn’t really give it a time frame.  The last time I hurt my shoulder he said that I would be out a month and I played the next week.  There is no time frame;  it’s just how fast can you heal and see how you feel in these next couple of days.”

On whether he has had any pain in the heel before:

“You know being a football player and an athlete you are always going to have some foot pains and stuff there before.  You know you don’t think anything of it.  It hasn’t kept me out of anything and not that it has been an issue in the past.  It just kind of felt like you pulled a muscle or something a little bit down there.  That is kind of really all I know. You know felt that there was a strain at kind of a certain moment. You know I am walking around today.  It’s a little tender but hopefully my goal is to try to get back so I can do some stuff Wednesday in practice.”

On whether it’s a possibility that he will play Sunday and if he will have to take pain injections:

“Umm I don’t have all of those answers.  You know I just kind of have to see.  They can always give you something.  An anti-inflammatory or something that will kind of take away some of the pain and so it is just a matter of day-by-day and how it is felling and go from there.  You know I just kind of have to see.  I am going to be taking it one day at a time. I have been through injuries before and you can be feeling awful on Monday on a day where it is going to feel the worst.  Hopefully this starts feeling a little bit better tomorrow and gets better everyday.  All I can do and all I can control right now is just doing all my treatments that I could possibly do.  I was talking to the trainers: What can I do?  What can I possibly do to get this healed up?  You know that is what I am going to try to do.”

On the play he injured it and why he stayed in on the extra play:

“Well if I could stand up I knew what the next play was.  We actually had two plays called and I didn’t even call the other one.  I knew we had that screen with an option and I knew that I could make that throw.  You know Nix did the rest and scores the touchdown and a great play by him…  I don’t know.  I kind of got asked today if I could have stayed in and finished the game. I am not sure if I know that answer.  I think my gut would have told me that I would have tried to stay in and play whether I kind of got it taped up where that was going to take away some of the pain.  I think scoring that touchdown and we had the big lead I would have been put in the situation where I had to go in there and risk making anything worse so he can kind of look at it and see what the situation was.”

On whether he could play tomorrow:

“It is tough to say.  You know obviously that’s good about football is that you have a week between each game.  If I had to play tomorrow I will have to figure out what is the best thing to kill some of the pain and what not.  I know that I would give it a shot to say the least. I don’t know if I have that answer…  My goal is to get ready for Sunday that is kind of my approach.  I also want to be able to practice this week so I will just keep that mindset for now.”

Eli Manning on with Michael Kay 1050 ESPN Radio NY (32:15 into podcast)

Tags: Eli Manning, Eli Manning has plantar fasciitis, football interviews, New York Giants, NFC East