Eli Manning was asked this yesterday: Is it more difficult to make a 10-foot putt while blindfolded — which Manning accomplished on his second try — or dissect a Bill Belichick defense?
Manning chuckled. “Both have their own challenges,” he said.
Manning was responding to a question from Romeo Edmead of Matilda Ziegler, a magazine for the blind, at Mount Kisco Country Club, where the Giants quarterback made an appearance to help raise money for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, an internationally accredited nonprofit guide dog school.
No one knows for sure when Manning will get back to real football activity with the lockout continuing despite a recent surge of optimism that it might be in its final stages. Last week, a group of up to 30 Giants spent five days going through drills at Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, N.J., the last scheduled player-orchestrated practice sessions before a potential on-time training camp.
“I was happy. It’s kind of the best we could do under the circumstances,” Manning said in his first lockout comments. “It’s not great work, but it’s better than doing nothing.
“It’s really to get some of the younger guys out there and get Jerrel [Jernigan, a wideout drafted in the third round] and some of the draft picks, Prince [Amukamara] and those guys, get them to meet some of the guys, learn a little bit of the terminology.
“You get worried you don’t know how long this lockout is going to be. If it goes too long, they’ll never be able to catch up and it will be a wash of a year for them, so you’re trying to prevent that.”
Manning admitted this offseason has been quite different from all others since he arrived to the Giants in the 2004 NFL Draft.
“I think everybody’s ready to get back to work and see the teammates and the coaches and get back to our normal life,” Manning said. “For seven years we’ve been kind of doing the same schedule and the same offseason, and all of a sudden to throw a little wrinkle in there this offseason has been a little different. But guys have made adjustments and you try to stay with the same routine and the same schedule that you normally have and make sure you’re prepared whenever they call us back.”
Though Manning has thrown with some of his main receivers it was not close to the usual amount of work he would normally have in a non-lockout spring. He said getting down the timing with his receivers is a not a huge concern, though.
“You can get your timing in training camp,” Manning said. “We’re throwing routes and we’ve got decent work in a number of days we’ve thrown. We’ve got guys who have been there before. Trying to get with Jerrel and some of the new guys and get them caught up, if they’re doing the right thing. That’s kind of what it is. It’s also the trust issue, you got to trust the guy to run the right route and get the right depth, read the coverage the correct way and that’s where the timing comes, guys doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”
Manning had little to say about a possible return of Plaxico Burress to the Giants.
“It’s not up to me so we’ll see what happens,” he said.