Eli Manning thinks NFL is ‘on the right path’ with roughing the passer calls
Yahoo Sports Senior NFL Writer Charles Robinson spoke with two-time Super Bowl Champion QB Eli Manning about the hot start for the New York Giants and the new emphasis on Roughing the Passer penalties in the NFL.
Eli Manning joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of Quaker Oats. As part of their commitment to help tackle hunger and advance food security, Quaker is introducing the Quaker Hunger Clock in partnership with Feeding America®. Quaker’s goal is to help raise $500,000 for Feeding America by Super Bowl LVII and will match every donation to Feeding America up to a total of $250,000. Visit www.QuakerHungerClock.com to learn how you can donate to Feeding America and trigger a change in the Hunger Clock’s meal tally.
Video Transcript
CHARLES ROBINSON: All right. Welcome to "You Pod to Win the Game." I am here with two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Eli Manning, co-host of "The Manning Cast." I feel like I see you more now on my television than I did when you played for the Giants. Congratulations on all of the post-career success.
Now, this edition of the Giants, they're 4 and 1, huge story, I think, across the NFL kind of seeing what Brian Daboll has been able to do, the turnaround for the franchise. What is it that energizes a team like this?
ELI MANNING: Yeah, I mean, I think the coaching change can do that-- just the attitude he brings, the culture he brings. I think he's done a great job just being creative with this offense. And for most cases, it comes down to those last possessions in the fourth quarter. And right now, the Giants are finding ways and they're playing their best football in that situation and winning those games.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Roughing the passer has become a huge issue-- obviously, the Grady Jarrett play, we see Chris Jones on "Monday Night Football"-- once again, this uproar about how it's being called, what it really is now. As a quarterback yourself, you took a lot of hits that would have been roughing the passer over the years that now are flags. What do you think about where this is going and just the difficulty in kind of sorting out what this rule is now?
ELI MANNING: I think the NFL's on the right path, and they want to make the game safer, and they want to protect the quarterbacks. As a quarterback, I love the idea. And even as coaches, I think they agree we've got to protect these quarterbacks. It's such an important position.
And you don't have this other guy just waiting to step in who's going to be as productive as you're starting quarterback, in most cases. And so you know, it used to be, is it late? That's really the only hit a quarterback and how you could get a foul-- are you late hitting him? The hits the helmet call, deserved every time.
It's this kind of other hit where it's the driving into the ground or kind of just excessive tackling, which it's hard to judge. It's hard for a ref to decide, is this truly a hit that is illegal? Or was he driving or just tackling? It's hard for a player to-- I think it's pretty obvious when you take a guy and you just totally drive them into the ground versus tackle them. And I think the players are smarter about it.
So I think maybe you could bring in instant replay into these calls, just because they are such important calls and difference-makers. If you're getting a sack, especially you watch the David Carr one, it's like, it's a sack, fumble, ball going the other way-- now, no, it's 15 yards and first down the other way.
That could be a big point swing in a game. And so I think you just got to make sure the exact things that these guys are looking for from the ref's standpoint are locked down so you're not getting some of these calls that shouldn't be calls and taking away big plays from the defense.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah. Now, Eli, I want to talk to you about why you're here today. I know you're working with Quaker Oats and they have this Quaker Hunger Clock campaign that's going on right now to fight hunger. Can you tell us a little bit just about this effort and also why you think it's important?
ELI MANNING: Yeah. Well, I was excited to team out with Quaker, one, because I'm a huge oatmeal fan. And the last 15 years, I've basically had it every single morning, including this morning. But also, like Quaker, I believe that the circumstances of life should never be a barrier to good nutrition.
Just excited to team up with them and their commitment to help advance the food security in the US. And so that's why Quaker is introducing the Quaker Hunger Clock in partnership with Feeding America. And the goal is to raise $500,000, which is equivalent of funding five million meals for Feeding America. And they want to do this by Super Bowl 57.
So there's an actual Quaker Hunger Clock in Arizona across from the stadium there that'll be counting down the time to the Super Bowl and counting up the number of meals that have been raised through donations. And then everybody else can go to Quakerhungerclock.com to find out more information and to donate. And that'll start this upcoming weekend.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah. It's definitely a great effort. And there is a financial match by Quaker for donations. So I would encourage people to check that out.