Marshall learning on fly with Eli
Ben McAdoo told 6-foot-4 Brandon Marshall on Tuesday that he was playing “a little small” by not attacking the football on fade routes. “He told me, ‘Be what you’re supposed to be,” Marshall said with a smile. Eli Manning wouldn’t even let the 11-year veteran dry off from his post-practice shower before adding his two cents.
“Literally we just got out of the shower, we had towels on, and he was pretty much half-dressed, and he started giving me signals,” Marshall said. “Eli walked in the locker room and took me through five minutes of just throwing things at me, seeing where I was. He knows where I’m at and where I’m not at, and he’s challenging me every second he gets so we’ll be where we need to be come Week 1.”
The Giants, believe it or not, are re-educating Marshall — a 33-year-old six-time Pro Bowler with six 100-catch seasons and four double-digit touchdown years who has forgotten more football than many people know.
But on Tuesday, Marshall admitted his learning curve in McAdoo’s offense has been so steep that he “wasn’t (in) a great place” mastering it through the spring and summer, adding he still has more to understand.
And through anecdotes and examples, Marshall pulled back the curtain on how aggressively he, McAdoo and Manning are communicating in order to build the chemistry to achieve what they all want — a Super Bowl.
“I feel really comfortable where I’m at right now,” Marshall said. “I’m not where I need to be, but where I was in OTAs and spring and summer, it wasn’t a great place, as far as feeling like a rookie, new terminology. … I’ve been in several offenses, had several quarterbacks. For some reason the way we do things here is really different.
“I’ve never really been in a no-huddle offense,” he added. “The tempo it’s like learning a new language because everything is non-verbal communication, so that was difficult for me. But we stuck to it and I’m in a really comfortable place now. There are some things I still have to figure out.” Like what? “With Eli, he’s so detailed,” Marshall said. “He’s probably the most detailed quarterback I’ve been around. He knows what he wants and how he wants it. … It took me up until two weeks ago to get this one route down. (Eli) threw a ball into the ground and I was (only) two steps off, and he pulled me to the side and kept coaching me and walking me through it. (For) any other quarterback it would have been perfect, right? But this guy was like no, it’s two steps (off).”
Or on another play Tuesday, Marshall turned his route in one direction and Manning threw the ball another incomplete. It looked like a miscommunication, but Marshall believes Manning was teaching him a lesson.
“There’s several ways we can get to different routes, and I thought he did it on purpose,” Marshall said. “I think he knew I didn’t have that one down, and he’s like ‘You gotta know it.’ So I won’t make that mistake again. (Because) there are certain things we’ve really been connecting on and built some chemistry on, and the (defensive backs) know. So he wanted to switch up our communication so they didn’t get a tip. And I’d never seen that one before, I told him, so now I got it.”
It’s not like McAdoo and Manning are doing all the talking. Marshall asked his fair share of questions on Tuesday, standing next to McAdoo in an animated conversation on the sideline of one drill.
“He’s a tremendous communicator,” McAdoo said. “Communication’s a two-way street. There’s input and there’s output, (and Marshall understands that).”
Still, as Marshall said, a lot of that conversation was his coach talking and the wide receiver listening.
“Today it was more of getting on me,” Marshall said. “It was his first time really gettin’ on me. He wanted me to be more aggressive to the ball on the fade. I’ve been a little fancy on those balls a little bit. So he was just walking me through the timing, and what Eli sees, and how he’s processing things. It’s been great to have a coach that’s gonna hold everyone accountable.”
Manning also springs quizzes on Marshall often, frequently when he least expects it.
“It’s (on) Eli Manning time,” Marshall said. “It’s whatever. It’s weird. It’s just real spontaneous. It’s interesting. We may be talking about what type of cereal we’re gonna have and he may just switch the subject to some type of football.”
It all adds up to quite the education Marshall is receiving. He’s unsafe from a lesson even as he exits the shower. But it’s all part of getting Marshall to ‘be what he’s supposed to be,’ as McAdoo said, because the Giants know what that could mean for their season and Super Bowl hopes.