Eli Manning Says The 2012 New York Giants Have To Be Better Than They Were In 2011

Eli Manning Says the 2012 New York Giants Have to be Better than they were in 2011

Only one active quarterback has won more Super Bowls than Eli Manning, and Manning has defeated that man — Tom Brady — twice in championship games. But the football media’s focus in New York is instead on two quarterbacks with a combined zero Super Bowl appearances. Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow are getting all of the attention, but Manning couldn’t care less.

Eli Manning joined the Dan Patrick Show to discuss the media coverage he’s been receiving this offseason compared to the coverage focused on Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow and the Jets. He also talked about the advice he receives from brother Peyton and if he thinks Peyton could play if he had to suit up today. Finally, he touched on whether he feels things will be different now that he’s won another championship.

On being the third most talked about quarterback in New York:

“It’s fine by me. I’m not looking for attention. I’m not out there trying to make a scene or cause any uproar by any means. I’m just getting ready to help out the Giants and put us in a situation to win some games.”

On if he’s paying attention to the Jets and their quarterback situation:

“I wouldn’t say that I’m following it. I keep up with the NFL, keep up with what’s going around the NFL on all stories. And obviously, being in New York, and you open up the sports section and you’re just kind of reading about what’s going on with the — whether it’s the Rangers and Devils or Mets and Yankees. Obviously this time of year there’s usually not a lot of football talk, and most of it’s about the Jets. So you’ll kinda see what’s going on a little bit, but I don’t think I’m as up-to-date as you are.”

On if his brother Peyton gave him more advice for the Super Bowl or “Saturday Night Live”:

“Not much advice. Similar advice for both of them. ‘Do your deal and have fun.’ That was kinda his advice for ‘Saturday Night Live.’ ‘Just go out there and have fun hanging around the cast members and the writers. They’re funny people — just enjoy the experience.’ … But Super Bowl, obviously you talk to him during the week and [he’s] a good person just to talk to and tell him how the week’s going. Things are happening during the week. I got to see him a little bit in Indianapolis and have dinner with him a few times and just kind of get the mind off football for some periods of time.”

On if Peyton Manning could play if he had a game today:

“Yeah, I believe so. Honestly, I haven’t seen him practice. I know he’s been having OTAs and I’ve talked to him and said things are going well, so I’m pretty sure he could.”

On if he feels as though he’ll be viewed differently now that he has two championships:

“I don’t think so. I don’t feel differently. I don’t feel like I’m going into this offseason with a different approach than the previous years. I have things that I wanna improve on. I got comments to the offense that we gotta get better in these areas. And really, I think the attitude is, Hey, we went 9-7 last year and hardly made the playoffs. We could have easily gone a very different route. We had to make a lot of fourth-quarter wins. And that’s fun, those are fun to do, but we gotta be better. We gotta become a better team all around. And offensively there’s a lot of areas where we can improve on.”