The New York Giants cannot seem to find any consistency week in and week out. The team demolishes the Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons, but follows that up with two division losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. Now entering a bye week, New York has some questions to answer on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Eli Manning acknowledges the frustrations, but remains confident in a turnaround.
The Giants are currently 3-4, but sitting in third place in the NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys thriving. If the team is going to get back into contention, they need to start their turnaround now, something Manning says they have plenty of time to figure out.
"There is a ton of football," Manning said, via Newsday. If we handle out business and start winning games, we have a shot to be OK and in good shape. I think we have the talent, yes. Some of it is developing just because we have some new guys playing at positions . . . There are still some young aspects to it, but there is definitely talent there. When you get through the growing pains of these young guys, they're doing a lot of good things, there are just little mistakes that are keeping us from being very, very good. The more playing experience they get, the more practices, all of a sudden these young guys start making those plays and things start coming together. That's when we'll be at our best."
Manning's confidence was clearly not derailed by the season-ending injury to wide receiver Victor Cruz or the injury to Rashad Jennings. That could be because both Andre Williams and Odell Beckham Jr are no longer playing like rookies, but instead reliable playmakers. Beckham told the media that he can replace Cruz on the field and so far he is proving that statement true. Since returning from a nagging hamstring injury, Beckham has stepped in and been a touchdown machine, catching two against the Cowboys. Wide receiver coach Sean Ryan sees only good things in Beckham's future.
"Any time you get a player of that talent, you think about getting the ball in his hands," Ryan said, via ESPN.com. "And then also the ability to move him around so that people can't just target in on him and double up on him. You've got to come up with new and inventive ways to get the ball in his hands as much as you can."
The Cowboys and Eagles are playing very well right now, causing the Giants to not be able to control their own destiny. Someone will need to stumble, but if the Giants can turn things around, they can put themselves in a solid position down the road.
