Dan Graziano, senior NFL national reporter 10y

Eli Manning: Offense still needs work

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- After a preseason in which the New York Giants' first-team offense failed to impress in five games, quarterback Eli Manning maintains that he's not worried and that the new offense is supposed to take even more time to come together than it's had so far.

"I think we're still trying to get it exactly the way we want it," Manning said Friday. "It's a work in progress. There's definitely room for improvement, and that will be a season-long situation, which I think is normal. That's not a bad thing. I think we have to know what we do well and where we need to make our improvements and be harsh on ourselves to make those improvements."

The Giants will practice four more times before their Sept. 8 "Monday Night Football" opener against the Lions in Detroit. They don't have much time to be a work in progress if they want to avoid losing games in September.

"Don't get me wrong. We're ready for Week 1," Manning insisted. "But as a season goes on, you're always looking to improve. You don't want to alarm people and say, 'We've got to get better.' That's just part of it. We're going to keep getting better, but we still can go out there and be successful and do the things to win games but still strive to make improvements on offense."

Manning pointed to some positives he said he saw in the preseason, including a relative lack of turnovers and the fact that they won all five of their games. He said new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, who's calling plays for the first time in his career, has been "decisive" with it and the process has been smooth, and he's looking forward to a real regular-season week of game-planning for the Lions. His hope and belief is that everything will look better now that the games count.

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