Stomach bug forces Manning to miss practice

Eli Manning missed a practice. Everyone panic!

Well, everyone except the Giants. They hardly seemed to notice that their starting quarterback and inarguably the most important player on the team had to be removed from Wednesday's workout because of a stomach bug.

Hakeem Nicks said there was no difference even though backup quarterback David Carr mopped up most of the practice reps, the first time he's worked with the No. 1 offensive unit since training camp. Antrel Rolle said he didn't even notice that Manning had to leave until he was asked about it later because he usually faces Carr on the scout team anyway.

"It's not going to affect him," Rolle said. "Eli will be fine. Nothing is going to stop him at this point and I'm pretty sure a lot of us feel the same way."

Hopefully they won't be feeling exactly the same way Manning was, as these bugs can often spread throughout a close-quartered locker room. Tom Coughlin said Manning started practice -- although at one point during media availability he stepped into the bathroom and then came out to grab a bottle of water -- but did not finish it. Coughlin said he hopes it's just a 24-hour illness.

Manning has never missed a game since he took over midway through his rookie season. He's started 128 straight games, including the postseason. His 119-game regular-season streak is the longest active one and the third-longest in NFL history. He has taken every snap this season.

The Giants are as many miles away from San Francisco as they are from preparing to play this NFC Championship Game without him, but that's not stopping some precautions from being implemented.

"I'm actually going to bring him some soup tomorrow," guard Chris Snee said. "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he's feeling better."

In terms of the practice, Carr said he tried to keep everything the way Manning would run it. Carr also ran the 49ers' scout offense, so he said he was pretending to be Alex Smith "and trying to impersonate Eli also."

Carr said he doesn't think Manning's missing a practice will alter anything on Sunday.

"If he didn't have the kind of the red-belt mastery of the offense then yeah, maybe, but he does," Carr said. "It's not something that is going to affect him."

Defensive end Dave Tollefson said he has no doubt that Manning will be fine very soon.

"Are you kidding me? He's Eli Manning," Tollefson said. "They probably have some kind of special virus-killing medicine that only Eli Manning can use. I'd be out for two weeks. He'll be good tomorrow."