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Eli Manning: the Giants are ‘definitely’ a playoff team

Giants quarterback Eli Manning believes his team is bound for the postseason.
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Giants quarterback Eli Manning believes his team is bound for the postseason.​

Manning, who has quarterbacked the team since his rookie year in 2004 and has led the Giants to two Super Bowls, says his team is due for a bounce-back season. New York has missed the playoffs in four consecutive seasons

“Yeah, definitely,” Manning said when asked if the Giants were a playoff team on Wednesday, according to the New York Post. “We added some great players in the offseason. We were aggressive in free agency, but still have a lot of our core guys, especially on offense, back and I think we made some good moves on defense. We’re getting some guys back healthy. It’s just a matter of, hey, the talent is there, can we put it together, can we find a way to win the games and play our best football when we need to?”

The Giants replaced longtime head coach Tom Coughlin with offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo in the off-season and added talent including defensive end Olivier Vernon, defensive tackle Damon Harrison and cornerback Janoris Jenkins. They also drafted cornerback Eli Apple in the first round of the draft and expect Victor Cruz to return healthy.

“I guess I’m always optimistic, always feel good about our squad,” Manning said. “I don’t remember feeling differently in the years that we made the playoffs, the years we won the Super Bowl, thinking: ‘Oh, I definitely think this is a Super Bowl team.’ You never know how it’s all going to play out.”

The Giants went 6–10 last season, good for third in the NFC East.