Eli Manning called into The Michael Kay Show on ESPN 1050 on Monday afternoon and was asked about the final play in Sunday's loss to the 49ers.
"They're playing man coverage, Victor [Cruz] killed his guy, had him beat by two or three yards, but Patrick Willis just wouldn't let Jake Ballard – obviously he lowered his head like Ballard had the ball already and tackled him. So they were in the same spot. I saw that and didn't really have anywhere else to go with the ball. They were man coverage on everyone else and doubling Hakeem [Nicks] so I was just trying to throw it over Ballard's head a little bit and get to Victor. It would have been tough. It wasn't executed exactly how we had it drawn up, but I still think there was a shot where I could have put it over Ballard's head and he could have caught it."
Kay asked if it should have been a penalty.
"I'm sure we're going to turn that in. It's one of those deals that any penalty that is called or if a play is not called, you turn it in and the officials will look at it and they'll write back to you saying a penalty should have been called there or not. So I'm sure we'll turn it in. it doesn't really do a whole lot. It comes back 'oh yeah, they should have called a penalty.' You're like, great, we still lost the game. It doesn't help. I actually sent Patrick Willis a text. I said that was a nice form tackle on Ballard on the last play – 'Was that the game plan, to tackle him?' He said he heard the crowd start kind of going crazy and he thought he had been called for pass interference. But obviously you never want to leave the game in the referees' hands. That's kind of always our motto. Obviously they have to make their calls, they've got their responsibilities, but it's our job to execute and not leave it up to them."
Manning then talked about the Philadelphia Eagles coming into MetLife Stadium this weekend.
"I think it's just a matter of we know the circumstances of both teams. They're not feeling great about things. They're in must-win situations and could kind of be down and out a little bit. But we can't let this game rejuvenate them and get them back into the mix. We just have to go in there. They're going to play tough, they're going to play hard, they know it's a big game, and they're getting into that must-win situation here to save their season. So we've got to expect their best football, and we've got to play our best football."Justin Tuck joined **WFAN’s Mike Francesa** on Monday for his weekly report. The defensive captain agreed that the Giants could build off the loss.
"I would agree with you. Obviously you don't want to lose any of them. It would have been sweet to get that win against the caliber of football team that the Niners are, on the road, but I think we still can build on it. I think it puts into perspective how good our team is also, and we still made some mistakes in the game. Obviously the 49ers did, too, but looking back at the film today, we could have won that game. And that's a confidence boost. So hopefully it's something that we can take away from it going into this next game with the Eagles, another big game."Join other diehard Giants Fans! Follow @Giants
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