Daily Madden: Thursday Night's Tale Of Two QBs
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - Quarterback Eli Manning completed 27 of 35 passes for 288 yards as the New York Giants dominated the Carolina Panthers in a 36-7 victory Thursday night.
"(Manning) has matured into a real leader, and he's so dog gone confident out there now," John Madden told the KCBS morning crew. "Winning a couple of Super Bowls will give you that."
Last week Manning had to come back from a poor first quarter to beat Tampa Bay 41-34.
"Great players can get themselves out of a mess, which Eli did," Madden said. "He had all those turnovers early and then he went on and threw for 500 yards. And then last night against Carolina, from the get go he was just in command."
Second year Panthers quarterback Cam Newton struggled against the Giants.
"The league figures you out," the former coach said said. "The first year you can kind of sneak up on people... The second year, (opposing teams) have the whole year to study and the whole off season to study and get ready, and then they never sneak up on anyone again."
The Giants scored on their first four possessions, putting Newton in a tough spot.
"Now you're fighting an uphill battle and you have to make things happen," Madden said. "You just can't take a conservative approach. You have to take a rather aggressive approach, and that makes turnovers." (6:45)
Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM. And catch John's extra report at 9:15 a.m. Mondays and Fridays during the NFL season.
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