Eli Manning knows better than to overreact to one week of stellar play.
The New York Giants gained headlines after their surprising upset win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1. The Giants showed off their potential behind their three young stars and new head coach John Harbaugh, beating the Cowboys in convincing fashion, 28-20.
However, things went quickly off the rails in their Week 2 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Star quarterback Jaxson Dart suffered a knee injury during the first drive and missed the remainder of the game. Unsurprisingly, the Giants’ offense was stagnant without their second-year quarterback, totaling just 182 total yards behind Jameis Winston as they were limited to just six points.
Manning, who won two Super Bowls and led the Giants to six playoff appearances in his career, said the key for New York to embark on a playoff run is staying “healthy.” The former veteran quarterback also hammered home being able to win the close games as key for New York. The Giants lost seven single-possession games and blew double-digit leads in five other games last season.
“That’s always that’s always the key is to stay healthy,” said Manning in a one-on-one interview with Heavy Sports. “You got to keep your main players and your big time players healthy and on the field. But I think it’s just kind of one of those deals where you know you got to find ways to win these close games. And they did it. They did it last week, and you know, and by controlling the clock, they got the ball back with five minutes left to go in the game with the lead. They kept the ball for those five minutes, didn’t give it back to Dallas.”
Eli Manning Stresses Complimentary Football for Giants
He said those types of games against the Cowboys should be a huge “confidence” booster for the Giants moving forward.
“Those are huge, just confidence boosters for this team, for the offense, for the defense we can play that style of complementary football,” said Manning. “We got to both help each other out. Each game’s gonna be different. Like last week, they ran the ball well. They controlled the clock. They were great on third down. This week you never know what it’s gonna be. It might turn out to a shootout, and we’re throwing it a bunch, and we’re going no huddle. Or you never know what’s gonna happen and how it’s gonna turn out and what it has to be. But can you figure out to win games with kind of different approaches and the flow of the game being different.”
First thing’s first and the Giants will have to overcome the early injury bug. Dart suffered a sprained MCL, which could sideline him for some time. The offense clearly looks different and limited when Winston is, so the Giants will be hoping for a speedy recovery. New York will play host the 0-2 Tennessee Titans this week, which should give them ample opportunity to get back on the right track.
Eli Manning Partnering With King’s Hawaiian For ‘Best Slider’ Campaign
Once again during the 2026 NFL season, Manning is partnering with King’s Hawaiian for their “Best Slider” campaign. The two-time Super Bowl champion is starring in new commercials for the slider bun brand in a witty campaign that calls for quarterback slides to be recognized as an official statistic.
“This campaign toys with the question: who has the best slider in football,” said Manning. “Is it me or is it Kings Hawaiian? And I guess we came to the agreement that this is really a different debate when you focus on on the field versus off the field. But while we were kind of developing this campaign, we realized that slides, which are obviously a crucial part of the quarterback job, are not tracked as a headline stat.
“We’re starting a petition to have those slides start to be tracked and recognized in the industry,” Manning continued. “And whoever signs a petition will have the chance to get free Kings Hawaiian rolls for life, which really seems like a win-win to me. So excited about this. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. You can go to bestsliderinfootball.com and and figure out how to sign the petition.”
Manning playfully vouches for the quarterback slide to finally be counted as an official statistic, which is the whole driving force behind the campaign.
“It’s not an official stat,” said Manning. “They track sacks. They track every other thing, but not not the slide. So I think we got to get it done.”
Eli Manning Drops Truth on Key to Giants’ Playoff Push Amid Jaxson Dart Injury