New York Giants quarterbacks Eli Manning (10), Ryan Nassib (12) and B.J. Daniels (6) run through a drill during mini camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Photo Credit: William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Earlier this summer, New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo said that backup quarterback Ryan Nassib “is going to play a lot of football for us.”
True to his word, McAdoo sat starter Eli Manning in the preseason opener and gave Nassib the lion’s share of the snaps. While McAdoo hasn’t yet announced what his plans are for the quarterbacks when the Giants face Buffalo on Saturday, Manning is hoping that those plans include him getting some work.
“I need the preseason,” Manning said Tuesday on Good Morning Football. “As a quarterback, you go a long time without getting hit. I haven’t been hit coming up on nine months. It’s been a while at practice and I can work on moving the pocket but I also know those guys aren’t allowed to hit me in practice and in games those guys are trying very hard to hit me. I need to get that pocket movement, work on taking a hit and realize that it’s not as bad as it seems sometimes, but I need that game speed, game environment to get ready for Week 1.”
The 35-year-old Manning has been a model of durability over the course of his 13-year career. While it’s not uncommon for him to be held out of preseason games–he has been inactive for seven over his career–Manning’s perspective on the importance of getting live action is interesting given the risks that are involved.
McAdoo, who gave manning the first preseason game off, said the starting quarterback would “absolutely” be receiving some snaps this weekend to help sharpen Manning’s “anticipation and instincts.”
According to McAdoo, there is no substitution for live reps. “It’s a big part of the game, it’s hard to train it in practice. You do the best you can by creating situations, but there’s nothing like the games to get those reps.”
Manning, who did his best to hide his disappointment over not playing last week, agreed that live reps are important and said he was looking forward to having that opportunity this weekend.
“Definitely, looking forward to getting out there,” he said after Thursday’s practice. “For me, I haven’t taken a hit or had live action for a long time so I’m looking forward to getting out there on the field, seeing what we can do with this offense and get some live work against a good defense, so this will be a good test for our communication and using all your things you have to use on the road.”
While McAdoo hasn’t disclosed just how many snaps his starting quarterback will plan, figure the starters will see a little more than the 15 snaps they saw last in last week’s game.
“We have a generic snap count for ones, twos and threes, then we adjust it on a case-by-case basis after that, after we look at the injury report and building up guys to the game,” McAdoo said.
