Giants QB Manning shows his fiery side

Nov 21, 2017 - 1:31 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- To the world outside of the New York Giants locker room, quarterback Eli Manning is monotoned, a guy who looks like someone who is devoid of emotion, and, well, just plain boring.

To his teammates, however, Manning is as animated as they come, picking and choosing his places to voice his opinions and to motivate his teammates.

Such was the case Sunday when Manning delivered what running back Orleans Darkwa considered a "fiery" pregame speech to help lift the spirits of a team that had won just one game coming into Week 11.

"Eli is the heartbeat of our team," Darkwa said. "Pregame, he gave a fiery speech that got everybody riled up and to have a guy like that, that has been through so much, that's got those two Super Bowl rings, we follow him. We follow his footsteps in everything, so to have him come up there -- it just shows the weight that he carries on this team and he's definitely up for it."

At the end of the game, Manning's statistics weren't much to write home about. He finished 19 of 35 for 205 yards and no touchdowns. But the most important thing is that Manning did his part in helping the team move the chains, plus he didn't commit any costly errors as he had earlier in the year.

"At the end of the day, he's been there, he's done that as far as reaching to the promised land and getting those two Super Bowl rings," Darkwa said. "Everybody is trying to push for that goal, so we try to follow his footsteps as much as possible."

Manning, a season-long captain for years, who was also picked by head coach Ben McAdoo to break down the team in the postgame locker room following the win against the Chiefs, isn't going to necessarily speak up every week just for the sake of doing so. But as far as Darkwa is concerned, he wouldn't mind it if Manning did.

"I mean, he talks to us a lot. I would say I guess the difference yesterday was just you could sense the fire in his voice," Darkwa said.

"But, at the end of the day, Eli is going to be Eli. He shouldn't change the way he commands the room. He shouldn't change the way he talks to us, and that's just how he is. That's how he leads us and like I said, if the Super Bowl rings don't hold any weight, then I don't know what else should."