Victor Cruz

Sometime on Monday, Eli Manning will enter the Giants’ practice facility, and he’ll sit down with offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo. For the first time in a relationship that began just a few months ago, the quarterback and his guru will begin preparing to face the Detroit Lions next week in a game that will actually count.

Even Manning can’t wait to see how things will go.

“I’m curious about the whole process with talking to him,” Manning said recently. “Getting his thoughts on the week, on what we want to try to do. What plays we like and what we’re thinking, what we’re going to try to do and just seeing how the week goes from third downs to green zone.”

Manning isn’t the only one who wants to see how the Manning-McAdoo dynamic plays out in 2014. For nearly a month now, the Giants have been claiming that their offense is better than it looked during their well-chronicled preseason nightmare, and one of the key reasons players repeatedly noted was game-planning.

The offense hasn't looked good and seems to not be on the same much of the preseason games, but the team insists it's not as bad as it appears. The fantasy future of WRs Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle are what owners are most curious about. Without the threat of a passing game, RB Rashad Jennings will see a lot of stacked fronts.