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Coaches Give Insight Into '07
The Giants coaching staff spoke about their respective units.
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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July 26, 2007

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The man charged with continuing the development and improving the consistency of Eli Manning gave his protégé a positive review for his offseason work.

"Well, I've been very pleased with Eli," quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer said today, when the Giants' assistant coaches met the media at the team's training camp site, the University at Albany. "I think he's done an excellent job in the spring. I thought that we worked on his accuracy and we worked on his footwork and I thought he did an excellent job there. I saw improvement from when we first started until the end. And I thought that as the camp went on he became more comfortable with everything.

"Let me just say that the 13 hours we spent watching film was very tedious and (Palmer kept asking), 'Why did you do this, what did you see here?' And when you sit down and you go over films for 13 hours, that's a grueling experience and I thought that he learned from it and the things that we talked about early in the film session, he carried out to the field and had great carry-over."

Palmer is a connoisseur of quarterbacks. He has spent many of his 18 years in the NFL coaching them. Drew Bledsoe, Mark Brunell and Tony Romo were all selected to the Pro Bowl while being tutored by Palmer. Last year, Palmer might have done his best work, turning Romo from an unknown who had never thrown an NFL pass into a Pro Bowler.

Now he's working with Manning, who has been brilliant at times in his 39 games as a starter, but has been frustrated by inconsistency.

"I don't think anybody questions that he has demonstrated at certain times some exceptional ability," said offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, the quarterbacks coach the previous three seasons. "I think the thing that we all are expecting - certainly as coaches we are - is that he eliminates some of those moments when he does things you just shake your head at. He's certainly bright enough, he certainly works hard enough, so there's no reason to think that's not going to happen. But saying it now, saying it in the comfort and confines of a classroom and then doing it on game day are two different things. But I have great faith in him. I really believe the guy is going to be something special. I think we've all seen those moments of brilliance and now it's just a matter of being a little bit more consistent."

One quarterback who is consistently brilliant is Eli's older brother Peyton, a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player who won his first Super Bowl in January.

"Everybody wants to compare Eli and Peyton," Palmer said. "Everyone forgets that Peyton had a 6-10 season there in his development and nine years later he's in the Super Bowl. And I think that what I see from Eli is an excellent quarterback that's going to be very, very good in this league and will lead his team to the Promised Land."

Gilbride, the quarterbacks coach the previous three seasons, also believes the continued comparisons of the Manning brothers is unfair.

"The only thing that is similar about them is the last name and that they both are big, cerebral quarterbacks," Gilbride said. "But the style of offense, the compliments that he has and the complimentary parts that the offense that he (Peyton) has are vastly different than what Eli has. So what we ask him to do, what we ask our offense to do and the different players that we have, is significantly different than what the Indianapolis Colts offense has, talent-wise and what they do systematically. So it's really not a fair question.

"To be honest with you, it's fair for us to ask him to get better, yeah, and that is what we have to expect, that those times that he plays very, very well we need to see that more often. And probably more importantly those times when he makes those big mistakes that we can ask him, he's certainly smart enough to say, 'Hey, let's cut those out' and I think if he does that, we will be delighted."

Here are excerpts of several other interviews with Giants assistant coaches:

*Gilbride on who will play fullback in the absence of Jim Finn, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury:

"We will experiment with Robert Douglas, we will experiment with some of the tight ends and move positions. There are certain kind of runs that you kind of need a fullback and I'm not just talking about short yardage or goal line, but certain runs that have been pretty successful for us have required a lead back. Now, you can fool around with one back and there are certain things that you can do that way that you can't do with the two backs, but those two-back runs have been good runs for us and we would like to have the ability to go to them. So if somebody can surface as a proficient fullback we will certainly have that aspect or that part of the game in our game plan. It certainly remains to be seen."

*Gilbride on the depth chart at running back:

"You start with Brandon (Jacobs) as the guy with Rueben (Droughns) competing for as much playing time as he can get and Brandon trying to hold off and trying to get as much as he can hold on to. But, I mean, there are other guys there too. Derrick Ward, is a young guy that we are anxious to see what he can do. Again, as Tom (Coughlin) talked about, there is some interesting competition at certain positions and it is probably not proper for me to say that I think this guy is going to start.  But right now you got to say that Brandon is the guy we feel confident in to be the running back to carry the ball 20-25 times a game, but we will let it all play out."

*Wide receivers coach Mike Sullivan on young wideouts Sinorice Moss and Steve Smith:

"Both of those young men bring a lot to the table. I think they both have the skills and ability to help us. I think with Sinorice, it'll be important that he gets reps, as many of these game-type reps in the preseason. With the situation last year (when Moss was limited to six games because of a quad injury), he was set back a bit, so in a lot of ways we need to take extra steps.  We're confident that he's headed in the right direction.  We'll see his ability and his energy and make for some good competition."

*Tight ends coach Mike Pope on whether Jeremy Shockey's continued improvement is more on the player's shoulders or the improved play of Eli Manning:

"Unlike golf, where people can go out and work on their own, it doesn't quite work that way. It is combination of many things, and we spent a lot of time this spring getting everyone on the same page and trying to emphasize getting the ball downfield more. Everybody is displeased that a guy with his size only averaged 9.1 yards per reception. We have to do better than that. It doesn't take that many balls downfield to improve that. Hopefully, something that we can come out of this camp with is the ability to push the ball more downfield and stretch the field. Particularly against the type of coverages that are played today, so many two-deep coverage schemes. We hope him to be a player in the middle of the field."

*New defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, on the Giants being ranked 25th in total defense in 2006:

"I am probably no different that any coordinator in this league right now. If they are standing here at their training camp, we are all striving to be the number one defense. I don't think that anybody wants to be in the 20s and I don't think that anybody wants to be in the teens. I would not put a figure or a number on it, but I will say this, and I have always been this way, the rankings, the statistics, and all those things, whether it's defensively or offensively, really take a backseat to one stat. We are all trying to win games, and winning takes care of everything. As a group, as a team, as an offense, as a defense, as a group of special team players, if we can get the W, that's the one that matters the most."

*Linebackers coach Bill Sheridan on his unit:

 "Probably the biggest change is that we've moved Mathias Kiwanuka to SAM (linebacker from defensive end). We had a good spring and this will be a very important preseason for him and he'll get better every day.  It's new for him, playing back in pass coverage. He's so used to rushing the passer. And then the other thing is we've got Kawika Mitchell, the kid from Kansas City, in the offseason. He had a great spring.  We're just going to continue to develop. It's somewhat of a new defensive package with Steve coming in and so the players are still learning the little intricacies of that.  It's slightly different than what we did a year ago so this will be an important preseason for us."