Brandon Marshall

Q: How are you feeling physically and do you anticipate playing Sunday?
A: Yeah. I’ll be out there. I feel good other than that hit I had in Cleveland, the body feels amazing. This is probably the only camp that I’ve had where I really didn’t have anything. So, that’s kind of encouraging being 33 and trying to be aware of where I’m at. My body – I try to keep track and try to be mindful of that so I know how to treat it, but I feel amazing.

Q: How does your relationship with QB Eli Manning match what you expected and how much did his being here factor into you coming here?

A: I think the number one thing that stands out now after being here a couple of months is Eli being approachable. There was a play last week and I was just trying to gauge what I was dealing with. I’ve had a lot of situations like, ‘Wow, this guy is humble and he’s an amazing leader, amazing teammate.’ But, we had a route last week where we hit it, we were in the red zone, we scored and I went to him and I was like, ‘What did you think about it?’ He told me how he felt and he was like, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘I think it was off a little bit. I think we were a second late,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah. I could have done this and this and that,’ and I was like, ‘Wow.’ That was impressive for me to be able to give him that feedback and him receive that. He’s just awesome.

Q: Is QB Eli Manning the best quarterback you’ve played with?

A: He has a long way to go to dethrone Ryan Fitzpatrick. He has a long way to go, so we’ll see.

Q: What exactly happened to your shoulder?

A: I actually don’t know, you know, company policy, but I’m going to let coach (Ben McAdoo) handle any medical issues going on in here.

Q: Will the injury to your shoulder affect you going forward or is it behind you?

A: Everything can affect us. You never know. I’m not perfect, but I feel great and there’s nothing that should hold me back. I should be able to do everything.

Q: What do you anticipate about a Giants vs. Dallas game in regards to the energy?

A: I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve watched them. I’ve watched the battles over the years, but it’s going to be cool to really experience it. So, I’m going to be mindful. I’m going to take it all in and have fun with it, but at the same time make sure I do my job.

Q: Are you worried about WR Odell Beckham Jr. not being at the first game with you?

A: Well, who knows. I’m just approaching it every single day like he’s playing and if he’s not, we’ll have to just try to do our jobs a little bit better to make up for it, which will be hard to do. But, who knows if he’s going to play or not. Hopefully, he does.

Q: You’ve talked about how much it means to make the playoffs.

A: I’ve never talked about making the playoffs. That’s not my goal.

Q: What is your goal?

A: To win. Win it all. I don’t want to just make it to the playoffs. What happens if we make it to the first round or we have a bye and then we get knocked out? That’s not fun.

Q: What are the feelings you have starting this season?

A: I guess it’s hard for me because I’m such a competitor and sometimes I’m blinded. The competitiveness blinds me. I promise every single year, I’ve always thought we had a chance and now that I look back it’s kind of a little stupid to think that, right? So, we do have high expectations. We have a really good team, but I’ve been in this situation before. I’ve been on some great teams in Chicago and Denver. Even with the Jets. We had to go up to Buffalo and win and we didn’t. This preseason reminded me that you can’t just show up. We had a chance to go out there with our ones against Cleveland. I was out there. Didn’t click for us. We have a lot of work to do and we just have to get it done on the practice field and hopefully it rolls over to game day.

Q: Do you feel like you’re on the same page as QB Eli Manning?

A: Yes. I do. I haven’t caught a pass from Eli in a game, but we have a lot of work in practice. So, confident that we’ll be right where we need to be on Sunday. We’ll make enough plays to get the job done.

Q: Do you and QB Eli Manning have a route in the red zone when he throws to the corner that you look forward to running together?

A: No. I won’t disclose that. But, I do pride myself on the red zone. I just have to get it done down there. That’s on me. Odell (Beckham) will see a lot of attention and I’ll be back side and I have to be able to run the entire route tree in the red zone. I have to come down with it.

Q: Do you know what you bring to QB Eli Manning when it comes to catching touchdowns in the end zone?

A: Yeah. I think in New York, we did a great job of running an entire route tree back there, so I know what you’re talking about – the fade ball – but you have to be able to mix it up. You can’t just run one thing because defense will be able to take it away.

Q: Were you ever a Plaxico Burress fan and are there any similarities in your game?

A: I was. No, we’re totally different receivers.

Q: Is clicking as an offense one of the challenges the team is facing?

A: No. No. There are some teams like that, but this team is put together with high-character guys. It’s just a reminder for me that it’s extremely hard to win in the National Football League. It’s always good to get that reminder early.

Q: When you were deciding what team to go to play, how much of a factor was QB Eli Manning in your decision?

A: Well, what I was looking for was stability in ownership. I never really had that since I left Denver. I was looking for a championship quarterback and could have went a lot of places and made money or went places and caught a lot of balls – a system where I caught balls may have been a number one. But, I only have a few years left, so I wanted to make sure that I can take advantage of that and hopefully win the Super Bowl. That was extremely important. That was number two. Number three – I was looking for a great defense. Number four – I was looking for a number one receiver on the other side. So, that’s what I was looking for.

Q: Does it surprise you that even defensive players want to play here because of QB Eli Manning?

A: No. It doesn’t surprise me. A lot of smart defensive ends – they want to play with great quarterbacks because that means they have to lead and that means other teams in two-minute mode, which means more sacks for the defensive ends.

Q: Given where you have been throughout your career and the quarterbacks that you’ve played with, is it unfair to put emphasis on what the quarterback’s resume is?

A: No. It’s a quarterback driven league. It’s fair.

Q: Would the quarterback affect your decision to choose a team to play for along with other factors you mentioned?

A: Yeah. That was my formula. That’s what I was looking for.