The 32 NFL teams have wrapped up the preseason, and now they need to make their final decisions and get their rosters down to 53 players on Saturday. There are going to be a lot of cuts and a lot of futures decided.
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning spoke about the end of the preseason and the preparations for the regular season, and the Giants opener against the Washington Redskins on Friday.
“Obviously preseason is very important,” said New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. “You have to see what guys do well, what are their best qualities, what things do they do better than other people and put them in the right position.”
Mostly Manning was just happy to have the preseason completed and to move on to the regular season games. He said, “the only times I’ve ever missed games in my career, I’ve been injured in preseason games. My focus is just getting through that healthy, getting the offense through healthy and fixing the mistakes, getting those things cleaned.”
Now that the preseason is over, the next step is finalizing the rosters for the season. Asked about which roster decisions he was most curious about, Manning deferred to the coaching staff, “I really just leave that to the management and the coaches. Get the calls tomorrow and see which guys are on the team and which guys are either moved to practice squad or we had to let go.”
“There’s not a whole lot I can do worrying about it. I’m just going to let it run its course and whoever management decides on, that’s the right guy.”
And once the roster is set, it is full speed ahead for the regular season. Going into the labor day weekend gives Manning a little more time for film study, “I have a long weekend to get ready and watched some of our games last year, other films. I try to get prepared. I’ve done a little bit, but still got a lot more to do.”
The New York Giants open their season on Sunday, September 11, at Washington in a game with a 4:15 kickoff. The game matches two of the cities attacked on 9/11 on the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
Players and coaches will wear an NFL 9/11 ribbon as a patch or pin on the uniforms and sideline apparel, and all stadiums hosting games on opening Sunday, September 11, will feature the ribbon logo on the field.
