Is Eli Manning Confidence Gone?

The New York Giants are winless, at the moment, and Eli Manning leads the NFL with eight interceptions, because of this, the media assumes that Eli Manning is losing his confidence. Is Eli Manning’s confidence in himself and his teammates completely gone? On September 25, Michael Eisen posted an article on the official site of the New York Football Giants stating that Eli Manning maintains confidence in himself and his teammates despite their 0-3 start. The psychological factors relating to this situation is mental toughness.

Mental toughness is the ability to cope with or handle pressure, stress and adversity, overcome from failures, refuse to quit, an insensitivity or resilience, and the possession of superior mental skills (Jones, 2002). Eli Manning refuses to alter his cool deportment and put more pressure on himself; he wants to stay calm and relax because he knows this actions will affect himself and the Giants. The key to developing mental toughness is learning to adaptively respond. The 4Cs model of mental toughness is control, commitment, challenge, and confidence.

First, control is the ability to feel and act as if one is in control of various life situations (Horsburgha, Schermer, Veselka & Vernon, 2009). Manning helps establish the mood in the locker room and on the field. He also insists he’s confident in himself, his teammates and the Giants’ ability to end their slide. The Giants have the ability to win despite their 0-3 start.

Second, commitment is the tendency to involve rather than distance oneself from whatever one is doing (Horsburgha, Schermer, Veselka & Vernon, 2009). Tom Coughlin tells his players “the importance of staying together, working as a team and avoiding finger-pointing”. Antrel Rolle states that “as an individual, we need to take care of ourselves and collectively we need to come together better as a team”. As a team, they have to promise to collectively come together and work as a team, no finger pointing, and take care of themselves.

Third, challenge is the ability to understand that change is normal (Horsburgha, Schermer, Veselka & Vernon, 2009). Manning states that “our confidence is good… we have a great opportunity to change things around and get some momentum.” The Giants keeps a positive attitude and remains focused instead of giving up, and they are confident even though they are 0-3. “We can’t change the start of the season, but we can start right now