Eli Manning’s Lone Goal: Get Giants Back to the Playoffs

Giants quarterback Eli Manning isn’t worried about his next contract, nor what kind of statistics he’ll aim for this year,

He’s also not concerned about having Daniel Jones, the team’s No. 6 overall draft pick, breathing down his neck for the starting quarterback job on the team.

Manning, the 16-year veteran, has his eye on one goal this year, and one goal alone.

“It’s making the playoffs to start with, and then making a run in the playoffs,” Manning said Tuesday. “Obviously, the goal is to always win a championship, and you can’t do that without making the playoffs. I think the goal is to win the division and go from there.”

At practically every press conference he’s held since the Giants acquired Jones, Manning has had to face a battery of questions about his lame-duck status on a team that historically has always ensured that Manning was taken care of.

But this year is different. Manning is not only entering the final year of his contract, but Giants COO John Mara also reiterated that the team will evaluate Manning on a year-by-year basis in conjunction with where Jones is in his development.

“Eli is our starting quarterback and will start the season,” Mara told reporters after the team announced a new corporate sponsorship with Investors Bank.

“He’s obviously been a great representative of our franchise for a lot of years, and will continue to be, so we’ll just have to see how that one unfolds.”

Mara raised a few eyebrows when he said his hope that Manning has a good enough year to keep Jones on the bench in 2019, adding, “I’d be very happy about that because it means that we’re having a great year and Eli’s having a great year.”

Mara believes that Manning can have a solid season given the upgraded talent general manager Dave Gettleman brought in over the off-season.

“I think he’s played well when the protection has been there in front of him when he has confidence in the protection,” Mara said.

“I thought that the second half of last year he played much better, our protection got a little bit better, and obviously Saquon (Barkley) was having a big year. So, I think our offensive line is better this year than it has been, and he’s had a terrific camp so far.”

But having a terrific camp is one thing; getting it done in a game is another. And certainly, it’s not lost on anyone associated with the team that Manning is on the back-nine of his career.

Not that Manning feels any pressure.

“In this job, the pressure is to go out there and perform at a high level to win football games,” he said.

“That’s the point. You can’t worry about what other guys are doing behind you and what’s going on there. My mindset is to prepare each and every week to get better, to make the guys around me better, to try to make good decisions, play at a high level, and put the team in a situation to win.”

Manning said he’s been pleased with how the revamped starting offensive line has performed in pass protection, an area that was a big problem for the team last year when the offensive line allowed 31 sacks in the first eight games, matching the 2017 total in half the time.

“I think, obviously, once you get to live action, that kind of tells more of a realistic approach to things,” Manning said.

“We get blitzes, and everybody is on the same page. I feel like they are on the same page, they are making good calls, they are in the right spots and picking up a lot of blitzes and sound in passing things off, communicating what the defensive line is doing.”

The hope is all that preparation, including Manning’s off-season training, will get the offense off to a fast start, picking up where it left off a year ago when it averaged 25.5 points per game over the last four games of the year.

“That’s the goal,” Manning said of having a fast start. “We have a good squad on the offensive side. I feel like the guys know what we are doing, and we should be able to go out there and perform our jobs, move the ball, score points and make some big plays.

“I think that’s the way you have to play football: Take what the defense is giving you, make good decisions, run the ball, play-action, and convert on third downs.”

And win games.