Eli Manning joined **The Michael Kay Show** for his weekly report on ESPN 1050. After telling Kay and co-host Don La Greca he'd be passing out Oreos for Halloween, Manning was asked if he's trying to give Tom Coughlin a heart attack with the close games.
"I told the Maras and the Tisches I'm just trying to give our fans their money's worth. They pay a lot for these tickets and PSLs and I'm just trying to make it interesting for them and keep them in the game."
Kay said that big games tend to slow down for Derek Jeter, and he asked Manning if the same applies to him during fourth-quarter comebacks.
"Well, I've never thought about it much. I think, as a team, we just know the circumstances, saying, 'Hey, there's not much time here, we've got to score right now and we don't have time to mess around.' Obviously, you'd love to have that philosophy and that attitude the whole game, but it's just sometimes that's the way it goes. It's great to have it in that fourth quarter when we need a drive, when we need a big play, guys are stepping up. And it's been different guys every game and throughout the course. Obviously, Victor Cruz had a big third-and-12 breaking over the middle, getting open, breaking tackles and getting the touchdown."
For another captain's weekly spot, Justin Tuckcalled intoWFAN’s Mike Francesa. He was asked if it felt good to get back on the field.
"Oh yeah, it definitely was. That was a long time coming for me, a month without hitting anybody. So it definitely was nice to get back on the field and it was definitely nice to get a win."
Tuck said he is "not even close" to 100 percent and was asked how his body responded to his first game back.
"It is tough to ease your way back in because you just want to get on the football field and fly around and make plays. But the biggest thing is just making sure you play the game smart at that point because I didn't necessarily know how my body was going to respond to an actual game setting. In practice, you can kind of shelter your way through a practice, getting the work in but not really going 100 percent. So I think the coaches and myself did a good job of staying even-keeled and made it through without any major setbacks and also had a pretty good game."
Tuck also praised Steve Weatherford and his punt team, including Justin Tryon, who was playing with a broken arm and placed on injured reserve on Monday.
"Speaking of being in the hole, I think our punter, Weatherford, did a great job of putting them in the hole with some great punts, and our punt coverage did a great job. They had (Reggie) Bush back there on a play where Justin Tryon made a play at the 16 where Weatherford had probably outkicked his coverage a little bit and it was a one-on-one tackle with Reggie Bush in the open field and he made it for us. And that's one of the credits that doesn't get mentioned a lot is that our special teams did a good job of helping us with field position."
