The Steelers and Giants meet on Sunday at Heinz Field and it will be a matchup of two former quarterbacks from the Class of 2004.
Eli Manning, the No. 1 pick overall in the draft, will face Ben Roethlisberger, the No. 11 pick overall in the draft, and Manning has plenty of respect for his Steelers' counterpart.
"I have been following Ben's career for a long time," said Manning. "Any time you have another guy that has been drafted in your same class, especially a quarterback, you always follow each other's careers. I have been following Ben and Philip Rivers and keeping up with them. (Ben) has had an unbelievable career so far and still playing great football. You take great pride in your draft class. I don't get to go against him very often, and I always look forward to these matchups.
"It's always fun to go against good offenses. With Ben and the Steelers, you know their offense can score points. We have to be good offensively. We have to do our part and keep up."
Manning, as well as Coach Ben McAdoo and receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz, weighed in on other areas of the Steelers as well.
Coach Ben McAdoo on rookie Artie Burns: "We took a good look at him coming out of college. He is making the transition. He is a competitive young guy. Has good speed. Has a nice skill-set. He is a good player."
Eli Manning on the rookies in the Steelers secondary:* *
"It seems like the last few weeks the defense has been playing well. They have been making more plays in the secondary, breaking balls up, making tackles. As a rookie it takes a little time to get a feel for things and get a great understanding. They are getting to that point and playing fast and confident in what they are doing. We have to have a great game plan and just go out there and try and find completions."
Odell Beckham Jr. on Antonio Brown:
"This is definitely a game where I'm going to be standing up watching this guy. I love him like a brother. We trained in the offseason together. He pretty much works for everything he has. He does that every single day. Work ethic is unreal. I just want to see him. This is the first time I actually get to watch him live. Not on tape or anything like that. Just to see him lined up, I'm excited about it. At the end of the day, you have another guy out there. My defense is going to sit here and want me to do whatever I can. It's the same way it is for him on the other end. I'm definitely looking forward to watching Antonio Brown, for sure. Hopefully he doesn't have too many celebrations. It's going to be a tough matchup for him."
Victor Cruz on what he sees on film from the Steelers:
"Just an aggressive bunch. They are coached well under Mike Tomlin, and every time you see them, you know they are going to bring that aggression and they are going to bring that hardnosed style of football and we just have to be ready to combat that and put our best foot forward. They really come after you. They are not pulling any punches or anything like that. They are coming after that quarterback and they are an 'In your face' style defense, so we have to be ready for that. We have to know that going into the game and be ready to go."
