Coughlin says 5 INTs not entirely Eli's fault
Head coach Tom Coughlin of the New York Giants looks on during a game against the San Francisco 49ers after Eli Manning #10 threw his fifth interception at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014 in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Eli Manning took the heat for all five of his interceptions against the 49ers on Sunday.
"I think all of them were on me,'' he said on Monday. "Just a poor decision and trying to make the throw, or an inaccurate throw.''
But Tom Coughlin was having very little of that. After it seemed as if Manning had been cured of his propensity to throw interceptions -- he had just six through the first nine games of the season -- Coughlin practically exonerated the quarterback when he tied his career high for picks in a single game in the 16-10 defeat.
"There was pressure, sometimes to the point where he wasn't going to be able to function if he didn't release the ball when he did,'' Coughlin said. "One in particular I think he was really trying to hold back on releasing the ball and it ended up obviously not thrown in the direction it needed to be.''
That was the second interception.
"There's no one individual responsible for that,'' Coughlin said. "You can see the one guy because he's the one who threw the ball. And I'm not making any excuses for him either. At this level you're going to get pressure, you're going to have people in your face, people at your feet. You deal with it. But in situations sometimes where you are about to release the ball and you feel like you have to hurry in order to do something with the ball, you make an errant throw and it becomes a turnover. We had done an outstanding job in the entire season of not letting that happen. But then (Sunday) it happened.''
Manning went through the five picks and said they amounted to some "weird inteceptions.''
"Trying to pull back one and just slipping out of my hands, that is unfortunate,'' he said of the second one. "The one on the fourth down was just double tipped, those are kind of unfortunate. Some are from pressure and trying to throw it before the receiver gives me an exact place I want to put the ball, and just throwing it inaccurately. Thought I had a deep one with Rueben [Randle] where the cornerback kind of hooked Rueben. He didn't get to finish his route. Just had some unfortunate things occur, and that is football. I've got to make sure I can make better decisions and throw the ball more accurately.''
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
