December 19, 2004
Excerpts from the press conference
Just a little expansion on my questions about the Giants coaching staff and why Manning had to tell them which plays he could handle. This is from the post game press conference:
Q - To what degree was the playbook condensed?Posted by James Trotta at December 19, 2004 5:54 PMA - It's not that we took plays out, we just put in plays that I felt comfortable with and plays that I have been running. Plays that I ran during training camp or the preseason and plays that I've seen against live action, that I've seen in games. I knew how to make my reads quickly. My feet and my mind were all working together and you get in that rhythm where if the first thing is not open, your feet are already getting set to go to your next progression and I knew when to run when things weren't open and I could take off and get some yards. They were plays that I felt comfortable with, so obviously you have to have your base plays where you can run it and you know what to do and then you can add some new things for special occasions. Hopefully we will continue improve and put some new things in and get comfortable with them.
Q - Was that your suggestion?
A - Yes. I went and talked to Coach Coughlin on Tuesday of last week and talked to him about why I was struggling and what we could do to change things. I just said that we have put in so many new plays from week to week that I don't feel comfortable if we see it against a new defense or a new blitz, I'm not exactly sure where to go. I think we need to run plays that I know what we're doing that I am familiar with and I can get the ball out of my hands and make quick decisions.
this is a smart move. i wonder how that converstation went. I find the whole thing intriguing. Now, he still has to work additional plays in but maybe do gradually at first and then move in more plays during the offseason. with in-game experience it will be easier for Eli to visualize the checkoffs on his own.
Posted by: seamus at December 20, 2004 12:51 AM