Eli goes back to when he was "trying to get comfortable" in the NFL

Players usually don’t go back in the archives to watch film of games against opponents from four years ago, but Eli Manning wanted to take a peek at the last time he and the Giants played the Colts.

Any differences he noticed?

“We have a lot of different players,” he said. “I watched that game from that year and you look at it and we don’t have one receiver who was on that team, the tight ends are all different, a couple of the offensive linemen are different or playing different spots. It’s a different team. Also, my growth as a quarterback. I was still very young and learning and trying to get comfortable being a starting quarterback in the NFL. Now I’m in my seventh year, more of a veteran guy, and more comfortable with what I’m doing.”

Why did he go back to that game?

“You just want to look at it, see what they did,” he said. “Some of their defensive styles are somewhat similar. They have changed it up a good bit, there are different players, but I think it’s just good to look at.”

He also said that he thinks the Giants have more offensive weapons than they did in that 2006 opener.

“I think we’re definitely better in the passing game,” he said. “Plaxico, Amani and Tim Carter were our three receivers. We did some good things offensively, had a chance at the end of the game to win and just didn’t convert on a couple of two-minute drives at the end. That’s the way it went. But it was a good game and we can definitely learn some things from it.”

Anything else jump out? Did he look younger?

“Yeah,” he said. “A little bit.”