ping pong table: Giants QB Eli Manning Conference Call

September 6, 2006

QB-ELI MANNING (on how the week has been) September 6, 2006

R20;Honestly, it hasnR17;t been too bad. ItR17;s been a regular week. I havenR17;t talked to the media yet or anything, so for me, nothing has been different. WeR17;re just trying to get ready for the Colts and put in our game plan and get ready to play. WeR17;ve tried to keep it as normal as possible.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on how often he has spoken to Peyton recently and if it has been difficult to do that) September 6, 2006

R20;ItR17;s not difficult to talk. I actually talked to him last night for about 20 minutes or so. The game doesnR17;t come up. We donR17;t talk about practice or whatR17;s happening really at all. We just kind of talk about what we did over the weekend and things like that. WeR17;ve been able to talk during training camp and two-a-days. ItR17;s less football talk and more personal stuff and whatR17;s going on in each others lives. Whenever we talked anyway, that stuff always came up and now itR17;s the majority of our conversation. But I guess during training camp, football and some things would come up whereas now, theyR17;re not.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on how he would describe Peyton to someone that doesn’t know him) September 6, 2006

R20;I would describe Peyton as a hard worker, a guy who is very competitive, a guy who knows what he wants and when he gets dedicated toward something, or has the drive toward something, heR17;s very committed to it. HeR17;s a good guy. HeR17;s fun to be around when the football season is not in season, or whenever heR17;s not involved in football, heR17;s laid back and enjoys to laugh and be around family and friends. But once itR17;s time to work, heR17;s committed and concentrated on that.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on the best advice Peyton ever gave him) September 6, 2006

R20;He gave me tons of advice. I donR17;t know what the best advice is. I guess itR17;s that whatever you put into (something) is what youR17;re going to get out of it, which means however hard you work or how many hours you put and your dedication and work ethic, the better that is, the better youR17;ll be.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on shooting recent commercials together with his family and getting physical at the end with Peyton) September 6, 2006

R20;They said to really go after it this time and see what happens. I want to get the outtakes of that commercial, because we had some good battles going on. It was about to turn into a wrestling match, it never got real bad, no punches were thrown or anything, but we were on the ground and rolling around a little bit. We had a good time doing it, but we need to find a way to get the outtakes of that commercial. There will be some funny stuff on there.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on the first time he beat Peyton at sports) September 6, 2006

R20;I remember the first time I beat him in basketball. There wasnR17;t really a whole lot we could compete in growing up. He was five years older than me. We had a ping-pong table, a bumper pool table and those games we used to play. I donR17;t remember when I won at those things, but I can remember the first time I beat him in basketball. That was the first time it was a real competitive sport where I was finally at the age where we were even enough where I could handle him. I donR17;t know if it was really fair. I was in the middle of basketball season, I think, playing for my high school, and he hadnR17;t shot a basketball in about five years, so I probably had an advantage over him.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on Eli dunking on Peyton) September 6, 2006

R20;ThatR17;s how the game (that Eli won) ended. It was of one of those tight games, like 9-8, playing to 10, you got to win by two, and I was at the top of the key and he went for a steal, which didnR17;t work, I got by him and went for the dunk and thatR17;s how it ended. It was one thing to lose to your little brother, but to get dunked on the last play, he wasnR17;t too happy about it.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on his father, Archie, not pushing them as children) September 6, 2006

R20;He never pressured us into playing sports, or into a specific sport, or telling us, R16;Hey, letR17;s go work on this,R17; or R16;LetR17;s do drills.R17; He didnR17;t over-drill us. He was always there for us, he supported us if we wanted. He always wanted us to come to him and say, R16;Hey dad, can you come work with me with my drop?R17; Or he might come catch some balls. He would do it all. He would run routes for us and do everything to help us out, but he didnR17;t want us to be forced into something we didnR17;t want to do. He was always there for us and did everything he could to help us, but he wasnR17;t going to pressure us into doing anything.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on the first time he fathomed this scenario of facing Peyton in the NFL) September 6, 2006

R20;It probably never hit me until I was getting ready for the draft. When I was young, I wasnR17;t thinking, R16;Hey, I want to play in the NFL one day.R17; ThatR17;s just not how I thought. I was playing every sport. I was playing basketball, I was just having fun. I loved football and once I got into high school, I wanted to be a good high school player. From there, just try to get into college, and once I started getting some letters, you realize, I want to take this to the next step and go to college. And in college, I wanted to be a good college player. I had a good sophomore year and as a junior you start getting asked questions if youR17;re going to come out early (and enter the NFL Draft). ThatR17;s when you start realizing you can play at the next level, but it wasnR17;t until I was getting ready for the draft and thinking about what teams I might be going to. Then I started realizing, R16;What if I get drafted by a team thatR17;s in the same division as Peyton? What if we have to play twice a year? What if weR17;re in the same conference?R17; ThatR17;s when you start thinking about when you might get to play him or not.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on a story that might illustrate the difference in Eli and Peyton’s personalities) September 6, 2006

R20;Peyton and my brother (Cooper) were always, I remember going on road trips, and weR17;d be going and they would play the numbers game, where you would say, R16;Number 68,R17; and they would go back and forth naming players in the NFL who were that number. It was kind of who could last the longest, and IR17;m just sitting there and I couldnR17;t name one guy. We just grew up in a different, not a different time, but when Peyton and Cooper were growing up, my dad was still playing for the Saints and Minnesota, so they were going in the locker room and knew the players. They were just around football. By the time I came around, my dad was done playing football, so I never got that atmosphere where it was engrained on me as early as those two guys. So, I was never a guy who knew everybodyR17;s number or where everybody went to college and those things. I enjoyed playing the game, I enjoyed everything about it, but I probably didnR17;t know the history of the game as much as my two brothers.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on the Colts defense) September 6, 2006

R20;TheyR17;re fast, and I think their defense is built around speed and making plays. TheyR17;re aggressive. Whatever they see, they attack at it and believe in what they see and take their chances when they want to. They do a good job of mixing up defenses and theyR17;re not, I wouldnR17;t say overly complicated, just what they do, they do very well. And thatR17;s what makes it tough. They find a way to make plays and cause problems for offenses.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on the DEs – Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis and Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora) September 6, 2006

R20;Both defenses have a lot of talented players and especially the defensive ends. All four starting defensive ends had a bunch of sacks last year and caused problems for the offense. I think both sides have to have a plan for how theyR17;re going to control that. To say youR17;re going to sit back there in the pocket and stand there for a long period of time, itR17;s not going to happen very often. So, it should be interesting and hopefully weR17;ll be able to block it up long enough to get the ball in our receiversR17; hands.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on DE-Robert Mathis and is he a guy you want to get in a foot race with?) September 6, 2006

R20;No. I donR17;t want to get in a foot race with any of those guys. Mathis was a guy last year who primarily came in on third down and had 11 or 12 sacks, so heR17;s a guy who causes a lot of problems. And this year, heR17;s playing even more on first and second down, so you have to watch out. You canR17;t have all of your attention on Freeney and forget him. You have to watch out for Mathis because heR17;ll cause some major problems. Really, the whole defensive front is built around speed and the tackles are getting in there and using spin moves and getting to the quarterback. So, we have a big challenge up front, our offensive line, to go block those guys and create some lanes, running room for our backs and enough time to get the ball down the field for the passing game.R21;

QB-ELI MANNING (on who the game will be toughest on) September 6, 2006

R20;I guess it might be tough on my parents. TheyR17;re both supportive and root for us so strong and to know one team is going to come out with a win and one is not, they never want to see one of us be disappointed or not succeed. So, I think theyR17;re very proud of us that weR17;re in this situation, but itR17;s going to be tough on them, and I know with my dad and my mom, theyR17;ll probably be a little nervous during the game.R21;





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