Eli Manning, after he took his opening snap and made the play action fake, dropped back and then bounced his right heel to set up before firing a pass of nine yards to Darcy Johnson, tight end.

Any concerns over the painful right heel of Eli’s got answered on that first play on Sunday in his 83rd start in a row.

Manning threw two touchdown passes, leading the Giants on four touchdown drives on all four of their first possessions, as the Giants defeated the Raiders 44-7, giving New York a 5-0 record and their best start since 1990 when they won the Super Bowl.

Manning said, it was perfect at the end. He went 8 for 10 for a total of 173 yards, playing less than half the game in the Giants’ rout. Get in and just score and score a lot and score quickly. Then rest and make sure not to put any more strain on it than necessary or make it sore tomorrow. That turned out well.

Manning was able to lead the Giants on 77, 79, 94 and 13 yard scoring drives in his most effective, by far, performance this season.

Manning’s touchdown passes came on a 30 yard pass to Mario Manningham as well as a 9 yard pass over to Hakeem Nicks, first round pick. He then played in one additional series before he donned the baseball cap late second quarter to get a rest that was well deserved on a day where the Giants were able to gain 483 total offensive yards.

Justin Tuck, defensive end said, we don’t expect anything less from him. People were saying maybe he wouldn’t play, but we all figured that he would. It is good seeing your starting quarterback is a tough guy and will go out to help his team get a win. That is the kind of leader he has become.

Ahmad Bradshaw, backup halfback, played a large role as well. He rushed for a a total of 110 yards as well as scored twice on rushes of 9 and 1 yard.

JaMarcus Russell, Raiders quarterback, struggled once again while trying to lead the worst offense in the league. He fumbled three times and went 8 for 13 for a total of 100 yards. He got sacked a total of six times while the Raiders had only 124 total offensive yards.

Their only score came on a touchdown run of 5 yards by Michael Bush, following a fumble at the 15 yard line by Sinorice Moss on a return punt.

Mathias Kiwanuka, defensive end speaking of Russell said, we thought we had the opportunity for coming out and getting him early and that would give us lots of chances. He does have flashes of greatness. We didn’t want him flashing that against us.

The biggest concern for the Giants was Manning’s availability. Last weekend during their win over the Chiefs, Manning sustained a very painful right heel injury. The MVP of the 2008 Super Bowl missed practice for two days and on Friday took half of the snaps, indicating that he would play on Sunday.

Manning was out on the field two hour before game time, warming up and showing no signs that the injury was affecting him.

Tom Coughlin, Giants coach said, he really wanted to play. He wanted to all week. A couple times he’s done a really great job using the power of his will.

On the Giants’ opening drive Manning went 4 for 5 for a total of 36 yards, capped by Bradshaw slamming in for the touchdown on fourth down and one.

The following three possessions for the Giants went at lightning speed. Their second drive went 79 yards in only three plays and featured a Steve Smith catch of 43 yards as well as runs of 19 and 17 yards from Bradshaw.

Their third score occurred on a 94 yard, five play drive featuring a screen pass of 55 yards on third down and 24 to Bradshaw. On the very next play Manning connected with Manningham in the end zone. The rout had begun.

Terrell Thomas’ sack and recovery of a fumble by Tuck helped to set up a drive of three plays that was capped by a Manning pass over to Nicks.

Richard Seymour, defensive end for the Raiders said, we could not stop a thing. That is a very bad feeling being out they and the other team is running any play they want to. During the third and fourth quarters they had in their backups and still were doing anything they wanted to do on offense. There isn’t any excuses for that. We all need to look ourselves in the mirror. Say to ourselves, I need to do a much better job.

Notes
Manningham’s bruised chest kept him from playing a majority of the fourth quarter. Ricky Brown, linebacker of the Raiders, sustained a right ankle sprain. The X-rays were all negative. New York had the football for over 36 minutes. They have 27 first downs, while Oakland had only seven.