Eli: Airing it out not answer to deeper issues

Everyone wants to see it, but that does not make it the right thing to do. So says El i Manning, who has not been able to solve the problem and score enough points this season. Too many short passes that raise his completion percentage but end without any Giants footprints in the end zone. So, how about airing it out? “It’s not all about just throwing it deep every play, that’s not the answer to our solution,’’ Manning said with some emphasis Wednesday before practice. “I know t hat ’s what everybody wants to do, it’s an easy thing to say ‘Yeah we’ll throw it deep and all of our problems will be fixed.’ It’s still about finding completions and, when you do throw it down the f ield, completing it.’’

With the Giants sitting at 1-3 heading into Sunday’s game in Carolina with the Panthers, Manning’s play at 37 years old is a hot topic — especially with his offense scoring 18.3 points a game

“The way he plays the game has not changed,’’ Brett Favre said Wednesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “You have to protect him. He’s not going to win with his feet. Every once in a while he may scramble, but he is who he is. And when you can protect him, he’s really good.”

Manning is adamant he is not settling for check-down passes and that he is not getting rid of the ball too quickly because he is concerned with the pass rush. That can happen, though, according to Favre.

“Yeah, absolutely,’’ the Hall of Famer said. “Guys that are really, really true competitors and have played a long time, you know, have a tendency when things go — you hope that things don’t go bad but if they do you find that you try to do too much. And I consider that a good quality. You try to offset maybe what your team lacks with your ability. And, yes, that gets you in trouble and then more criticism falls upon you. And I’m not saying Eli is doing that. I think he’s battling his butt off. And I think given good protection I think you see an Eli that we have known to be there at the end.’’

Manning insists he is confident of coach Pat Shurmur’s offensive system and there are deep passes and long gains in the near future.

“We’ll have opportunities to make big plays and that doesn’t necessarily have to be throwing down the field,’’ Manning said. “There will be opportunities to throw it down the field we’ll take it, but when there’s chances to hit guys — we have guys who can catch medium passes and catch short passes. It’s about hitting guys on the move, hitting guys on the run when there’s chances of runaway and being accurate with the ball and let them make big plays after the catch.’’