Talent show
Eli a big fan of Giants offseason signing frenzy
He could have dodged the question the way he tries to escape the clutches of ferocious passrushers. Instead, Eli Manning tackled the question head-on.
Are the Giants of 2016 a playoff team?
“Yeah, definitely,” Manning said Wednesday morning at a Gatorade event at Kean University in Union, N.J. “We added some great players in the offseason. We were aggressive in free agency, but still have a lot of our core guys, especially on offense, back and I think we made some good moves on defense. We’re getting some guys back healthy. It’s just a matter of, hey, the talent is there, can we put it together, can we find a way to win the games and play our best football when we need to?”
That was precisely what the 2015 Giants failed to do — at times in spectacularly and dramatically futile fashion — en route to another 6-10 finish, adding to a four-year postseason absence. To fix what ailed them, the Giants opened their checkbook in free agency to sign Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins and Damon “Snacks” Harrison and took Eli Apple in the first round of the NFL draft to fortify the defense. They added receiver Sterling Shepard in the second round and hope the rookie out of Oklahoma can team with Odell Beckham Jr. and a mended Victor Cruz to give Manning the options he needs.
Manning, entering his 13th season with the Giants, said at this time of the summer, a few weeks from training camp — the Giants report July 28 — he usually views the glass as half full.
“I guess I’m always optimistic, always feel good about our squad,” Manning said. “I don’t remember feeling differently in the years that we made the playoffs, the years we won the Super Bowl, thinking: ‘Oh, I definitely think this is a Super Bowl team.’ You never know how it’s all going to play out.
“You don’t know what the injury situation is going to be and how you’ll respond in critical situations in games. That’s something it’s hard to know until you’re in those fourth quarters. Does the level of play rise or does it go get uptight or nervous? Hopefully we have guys who know how to make the plays and rise to the occasion.”
Manning appeared at the football camp at Kean University on behalf of Gatorade’s Beat The Heat program, stressing the need for proper hydration. The temperature was approaching 90 degrees, and, he said with a chuckle, the heat got his mind fast-forwarding to his own training camp, coming soon enough.