When Giants quarterback Eli Manning was asked about his receivers taking a trip to Miami last week, he responded with one-liners about their lack of shirts and his absence from the party on the boat.
Manning took a different track on Monday when it came to discussing Beckham’s dud of a game against the Packers. Manning made it clear that he doesn’t see a connection between fun on the high seas and Sunday’s performance, but added that Beckham and other Giants players new to the postseason can learn something from the experience.
“You’ve got to learn that the perception of things makes it different,” Manning said, via the New York Daily News. “You do things, you’ve got to back it up. And I don’t think it had an impact on the game. I thought we had a great week of practice. Guys were making plays and running around and intense and focused and everything [was] good. Unfortunately we just didn’t have it yesterday.”
It’s not the first time that Manning has found himself discussing Beckham’s behavior on or off the field and said Monday that he doesn’t “have concerns” about the receiver’s maturity. He did suggest that Beckham might have put too much pressure on himself to put up a huge game and that going through it for the first time should show the wideout he “can’t make it bigger than what it is.”
Anyone who watched the Giants offense scuffle about this season when Beckham wasn’t busting defenses could understand how he might feel pressure to come up with big plays that didn’t make the trip to Green Bay.
