Eli being patient with Giants' young receivers
Photo credit: AP | Giants quarterback Eli Manning (10) talks to rookie wide receiver Hakeem Nicks during training camp in Albany, N.Y.
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ALBANY - Eli Manning didn't spend a lot of time mentoring the young receivers during the first week of training camp. Instead, he listened to them.
"I like for them to come back to me [after a play] and tell me what they saw," Manning said Monday in his first extended media session since camp opened. "It's not me just always talking to them, it's them talking back to me, getting a feel, and making sure we're discussing everything and getting it where we want it."
It's been a feeling-out process. Manning said he's not very concerned about the high number of interceptions thrown so far in camp or the incompletions. He even said he welcomes mistakes . . . as long as they are learned from and swept away.
It's a big summer for Manning, and not just because of his record-setting contract extension. For the first time, Manning, 28, is the teacher and not the pupil. He's the one who has to groom the inexperienced receivers in front of him into stars. And at times this week, it hasn't looked pretty.
"You can't get down, you can't get frustrated, because there are going to be mistakes," Manning said. "It's a little different from years past when you had Plaxico, Amani, David Tyree and those guys who had been here for five or six years and you kind of know they know what's going on, they know the plays."
In the 78 consecutive regular-season and postseason games Manning has played since becoming the Giants' starter in November 2004, Toomer or Burress has been on the field for all but one. The two made 504 receptions during that time.
This year, it's Steve Smith, Domenik Hixon and Sinorice Moss, second-year player Mario Manningham and rookies Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden.
"You're still going to have bad plays and make mistakes [with veterans], but it's a little bit different when you are teaching and it's a little bit more trial and error at the beginning of camp," Manning said. "You just have to keep your confidence up, make sure your receivers keep their confidence up, and compliment them when they're doing well. When they make a mistake, it's not about getting on them and ripping them right now. It's about talking through things and making sure they learn from it and they don't do it again."
Now, though, entering the second week of camp, it's clearly time for the "getting to know you'' phase to end. The Giants open their preseason schedule Monday. It's time for the receivers to make plays.
"We are a long way from where we need to be," Tom Coughlin said. "We are a week into it and we are not getting the execution that we are looking for, particularly on the offensive side of the ball."
In particular, interceptions have slowed progress. In 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills, 21 passes have been picked off in 12 practices.
"You never like interceptions, but in a way you have to see what guys are capable of," Manning said. "You have to give them some shots and see if they can go get the ball for you."
Manning said the picks should start dwindling now.
"They should be getting less and less as you get further into camp because guys are doing the right things," he said. "Now, if things happen, it's probably the quarterback's fault rather than other things going wrong."
Notes & quotes: As for his contract extension, Manning said the issues holding up his signing were "very little stuff." "It'll get worked out," he said. Asked if that will be soon, he said, "I think so." Sources on both sides of the negotiations maintain that the basic financial structure of the deal (six more years for $97.5 million) remains intact . . . DT Fred Robbins, who came off the PUP list Sunday, participated in team drills for the first time yesterday and took snaps with the first unit. "He will get a percentage of the plays," Coughlin said . . . C Shaun O'Hara (triceps) returned to practice.
