Eli Manning is looking ahead. Who wouldn’t after the year he just had?
Manning comes off the worst season of his professional career that dates back to being the top overall selection in the 2004 draft. His Giants went from likely contender after making the 2016 playoffs to one of the NFL’s worst.
They were ravaged by injuries Will Hernandez Color Rush Jersey , dissension in the locker room, and then-coach Ben McAdoo even benched his quarterback in Week 13, ending Manning’s 210-game starting string.
McAdoo was fired the next week, the usually well-run franchise was embarrassed as badly as for any of the 13 defeats in 2017, and though Manning immediately got his job back, the Giants ended the year as one of the NFL’s biggest flops.
”It was a great reminder that nothing is guaranteed,” Manning said Friday. ”No matter what you did the year before – win your division, make the playoffs, whatever – it has no effect on the next year.
”So there’s no reason we can’t win 11 or more games this year. We made a lot of changes and will make more, and if we stay healthy and win some of those close games you always get in, who knows?”
Besides, that lost season serves as an impetus for the future.
”When you have a tough year, you use it as motivation Authentic Josh Allen Jersey ,” he said. ”Get back in there and do whatever you need to do to make changes. Make a commitment again to playing at a higher level. It challenges you and makes you hungrier.”
The two-time Super Bowl MVP has a new coach in Pat Shurmur, who like McAdoo has a background as a QB guru. Unlike the rough-edged McAdoo, though, Shurmur has a smoother style and also is more open in his thinking and planning for running an offense.
To Manning, 37, an opportunity to expand the attack is much welcomed.
”We’ve talked a bit, getting to know each other, but there’s a limit how much you can meet and talk,” Manning said.
”I am excited to start learning the offense and the playbook and how Pat will use our skillsets. He’s got a combination of Norv Turner, Andy Reid and Chip Kelly in there from the places he’s been.
”There’s definitely an adjustment, but if you’ve played the game long enough, there are only so many new plays you can put in.”
Manning smiled when he said that, knowing Shurmur isn’t about to design a Russell Wilson/Cam Newton type of offense for him.
There’s been much speculation that Manning could be traded and the Giants would use the second overall pick in April on one of the highly rated quarterbacks in this draft. The choice of Shurmur and ownership’s devotion to Manning seems to have made Manning’s departure unlikely.
He certainly won’t complain about getting back his prime target, Odell Beckham Jr. The spectacular receiver was lost in early October to a broken ankle. Beckham is enough of a difference maker that New York might have had a few more victories had he been available all season.
”He’s a tremendous player, and when he gets back and is healthy, he impacts games,” Manning said. ”It’s tough when guys you work with all spring and summer and you lose them and have all new guys. Odell, Brandon (Marshall), Sterling (Shepard).”
Manning spent part of the day welcoming visitors to a Courtyard by Marriott experience whose contest winners will spend Saturday night sleeping in a luxury suite at U.S. Bank Stadium.
He joked that he can’t ever remember sleeping in a stadium, but that waking up the morning of the Super Bowl at the venue would be ”pretty neat to do.”
Then he wondered just how quiet the stadium would be on Super Bowl eve.
”You’re right there in the dome and get to see all the behind-the-scenes stuff,” he said. ”Then you wake up on Super Bowl Sunday right there. Has to be a wonderful experience.”
Considering he is 2-0 in the big game, Manning knows about wonderful Super Bowl experiences.
—
Joe Thomas joked about his former coaches, thanked many of his ex-teammates and playfully referred to himself as a mushroom.
The 10-time Pro Bowl selection commanded the room – and kept his emotions in check – until the final moments of his retirement news conference Monday.
”It is with all of this that I must say goodbye,” Thomas said http://www.lionsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-frank-ragnow-jersey , his eyes welling with tears. ”Goodbye, not because I’m saying goodbye, but I’m just changing jobs from being your left tackle to being the No. 1 fan of the Cleveland Browns.
”Playing in front of the greatest fans in the NFL was easily the greatest honor of my 11-year career.”
Thomas, the No. 3 pick in the 2007 draft, formally bid farewell in an afternoon celebration at the Browns’ training facility. He was joined by his wife Annie, their three children, longtime agent Peter Schaffer, and several hundred invited guests.
The 6-foot-6, 310-pounder announced the end of his Hall of Fame-caliber run five days earlier, citing the physical toll of starting 167 straight games and playing an NFL-record 10,363 consecutive offensive snaps to begin his career.
Thomas’ ironman streak ended when he tore his left triceps in an Oct. 22 home game against Tennessee, but admitted that thoughts of retirement had entered his mind before the season-ending injury.
”I was in tough shape physically and I was concerned that I wasn’t going to make it through the season,” the three-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee said.
”I also was concerned that my performance was going to drop significantly because of what I had to do to get my (ailing) knee ready on Sunday. I wanted people to remember the player that I was on the field.”
The Wisconsin native – and All-American tackle with his beloved Badgers – is one of the best players never to appear in a playoff game. He set the gold standard as the lone offensive lineman in NFL history to be chosen for the Pro Bowl in his first 10 seasons.
Hall of Famers Barry Sanders Anthony Miller Color Rush Jersey , Lawrence Taylor, Mel Renfro and Merlin Olson are the only other players to accomplish the feat. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam III is confident that Thomas will join them in nearby Canton.
”Five years from now, all of us in this room will make the trek down to Canton to watch Joe as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, which he richly deserves as one of the all-time greats of the league,” Haslam said.
”But first, we’re celebrating him today, and we’ll celebrate it again this year when the number 10,363 goes up in our ring of honor (at FirstEnergy Stadium).”
Haslam, general manager John Dorsey and coach Hue Jackson presented Thomas with a fishing rod embroidered with his familiar No. 73. The city of Cleveland will fete him on July 3 with ”Joe Thomas Day.”
Thomas’ local popularity began on his draft day, when he bypassed a trip to New York in favor of fishing with his father. While on Lake Michigan, he told reporters that his objective was to become a Hall of Famer.
”I knew what I wanted to focus on from day one because I wanted to make sure my goals were as high as they wanted to be,” he said. ”I gave it my all and I never sold myself short. Hopefully, in five years Alexander Alexeyev Capitals Jersey , I’ll be able to think about that a little more.”
Though he hopes to remain with the Browns in some capacity, Thomas plans on moving back to Wisconsin to spend more time with his parents and extended family. His short-term plan is continuing to host a podcast with former Cleveland wide receiver Andrew Hawkins, but he is eager to pursue potential coaching and broadcasting jobs.
Jackson, who warmly embraced Thomas off stage, compared him to a fancy sports car and believes he will be successful in whatever field he chooses.
”I don’t know if I’m a Ferrari, maybe more of a beat-up truck like Mater on that show `Cars,”’ Thomas said. ”The main reason I retired was I knew that Hue was going to make the rest of the team jump in the lake with him this year (honoring his vow after a 0-16 season), and I didn’t want to do that.”
NOTE: The Browns sent defensive back C.J. Smith to Seattle for a 2020 conditional seventh-round pick. —
Arroganz
Thema drucken
09.08.2018 04:22
Antworten