ALBANY, N.Y. -- If ESPN's Hard Knocks knockoff wants to give rock-star treatment to Rex Ryan, Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow and the rest of the New York Jets, Eli Manning is cool with that.
But he'd rather the network stayed away from the New York Giants' training camp.
"I don't want ESPN camped out here and us doing interviews here, doing all that stuff,'' Manning told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday. "(Quiet) is the way we like it.
"There's good attention and bad attention. Right now, training camp is about football, getting away from all the distractions and worrying about your team coming together and playing at a high level.''
The reigning Super Bowl MVP is comfortable in the unusual anonymity and serenity surrounding the Giants, who will try to defend their title by starting the season the same way they finished last season -- strongly. The Giants won their final six games, culminating in a 21-17 Super Bowl XLVI defeat of the New England Patriots.
Manning spoke in a morning interview with the NFL Network's new morning show, NFL AM, but he has kept his profile low.
He stiff-armed the idea that the Giants are a dynasty, and he shrugged at comments made by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who invited fans to the Giants-Cowboys Sept. 5 season opener by issuing the following words: "Y'all should come to that (MetLife) stadium and watch us beat the Giants' ass."
The Giants are taking their low-key, business-approach lead from Manning, coach Tom Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese. Manning refused to get into a war of words with Jones.
"That kind of stuff by Jerry Jones doesn't get to me. We've had success there,'' Manning said.
When the Giants won the opening game at Cowboys Stadium, 33-31, in 2009, Manning famously wrote his name and the score on the visitor's locker-room wall.
"Anytime you play the Cowboys, you've always got to be ready to play. It's always a big game," he said. "I don't need someone to say something to get me motivated for a game. I'll be motivated and ready to play.
"We know they're a good team, and we'll be ready to play. We'll see them the first week."
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