Eli's not fast but he's an artful dodger

The Giants' locker room is filled with staunch supporters of Eli Manning's. They are men who will follow him onto the field each game, will defend him physically or verbally, and look to him as their leader and, this season, their most valuable player.

But bring up Manning's athleticism -- or lack of it -- and the mocking begins.

"I will never, ever call Eli an athlete," guard Chris Snee said. "When you watch him run, it's the most awkward thing."

"He does have a sweet Granny shot when we play basketball,'' backup quarterback David Carr added. "That's about all he goes to in H-O-R-S-E. The two-handed set shot, the Granny shot, the bounce off the ground."

The 6-4, 218-pound Manning may not be the most graceful Giant, but don't confuse his bumbling for no athletic ability at all. He has a knack for maneuvering in the pocket and can make an amazing play when he needs to.

Just this past Sunday, for instance, he spun away from a tackle with his back to the field and chucked a deep pass to Victor Cruz for a 44-yard gain that helped beat the Cowboys. In that game Manning also hit Devin Thomas along the sideline on a dead sprint, made a diving catch of a ball Brandon Jacobs had fumbled in the red zone, and threw another pass to Cruz with Anthony Spencer hanging from his ankle.

Even Snee conceded those plays required some athleticism. But he wasn't about to give Manning too much praise. He mocked his disjointed slide on one of his career-high six scrambles Sunday, the one that set up the momentum-changing field goal in the fourth quarter.

"When he went for that slide, I was thinking that I'd better run down there," Snee said. "That ball's popped out on occasion."

Surprisingly, those who study such things say one of Manning's best attributes is his ability to dance around in the pocket. Without his footwork, there is no long Cruz catch Sunday. There is no David Tyree catch four years ago, maybe no Super Bowl championship.

He's also become a master at avoiding direct hits, something that Carr jokes is a benefit of his lack of athleticism.

"You see these webcams and these guys look like idiots, they're walking around the streets drunk and they fall down the stairs and they don't get hurt," Carr said.

"It's kind of the same way. He doesn't tense up. He does a great job of just going down and going with it. You'll see a lot of times he'll make a throw down the middle and kind of turn his back and go with the hit. You don't understand how many hits that takes off you in a long season like this. If you can take 10 of those full-frontal face shots off your record, at the end of the year you're going to feel pretty good."

That's been one of the reasons why Manning has been able to stay healthy and start his 127th consecutive game Sunday against the Falcons, the longest active streak in the NFL and third all-time. It's kept Carr on the sideline (Manning has taken every snap this season) but has earned Carr's respect.

"What makes him a good athlete is that he's smart," Carr said. "He understands where the pressure is coming from, he understands if a guy is free and where to step up in the pocket. A lot of times that makes you fast as far as not necessarily being Michael Vick out there but knowing where to move. I think that's one of the best things he does."

That may be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about Manning's athleticism.