EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Eli Manning had every right to be steamed.

Yet as his cheeks still burned red nearly an hour after his Giants dropped a listless 20-14 decision to the Eagles, it was the cold Giants Stadium wind, not anger, that was to blame.

Manning remained his customary calm self.

Neither the stupidity of Plaxico Burress nor the inability of Domenik Hixon rattled the Giants' quarterback. And for that, the franchise is more grateful than ever. On a day when the fledgling Manning for MVP campaign died amid a 13-for-27, 123-yard dud, the real value of Manning continued to emerge.

The Giants need Manning's characteristic unflappability now more than ever. They are facing a potential crisis. Burress is gone for the rest of the season, his punishment for an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound. His replacement, Hixon, dropped a 50-yard Manning second-quarter bomb that hit him square in the numbers. Neither Hixon nor any of his fellow receivers was ever able Sunday to give Manning relief in the face of relentless Eagles' pressure, not the way Burress and his 6-foot-5 frame usually do.

Yet there Manning stood afterward, barely raising an eyebrow. He refused to hang Hixon out for the dropped pass on the first play of the second quarter, a downfield shot the Giants took as soon as they had the wind at their backs and one that should have resulted in a 7-3 Giants' lead.

"Even with the wind, the ball was moving around," Manning said. "We didn't connect. It happens. We had too many of those. It was not just Hixon. I didn't make some too."

Hixon wasn't as kind to himself, admitting "that was completely on me. ... The play that I missed, I should've made. At the end of the day I should've made the play regardless of what happened throughout the week."

But Manning had no interest in using the relentless media scrutiny of the past week, otherwise known as the latest installment of Burress' irresponsible antics, as the reason for poor play.

"This team has been through a lot together," he said. "We practiced well and guys were on the same page, but we went out there and made mental mistakes and did things wrong. We just didn't play our best. That's part of football. ... We just needed to make a few plays or have something spark us. We just didn't have a game-changing play with (the) passing (game). We get a lot of big plays in games from the run and the pass. Today we just didn't have it."

Manning would never say the obvious — what the Giants didn't have but really needed was Burress. As the schedule heads into its final three games, the questions about Burress surely will recede and that should translate into fewer off-the-field distractions. But on the field, life only gets more difficult. The Cowboys loom next weekend, followed by similarly difficult conference opponents Carolina and Minnesota.

Much like we saw against the Eagles on Sunday, no Giants' receiver is going to demand a double team the way Burress routinely did. That is going to continue to put extra pressure on the running game and on Manning, neither of which looked good Sunday.

"We just have to learn from this, obviously," Manning said. "We're in a position where we're still in good shape. What matters is the next game, going out there and getting a win. It's not going to get any easier from here and we know that. We have to get back to playing good football and execute."

Manning is the right man to lead the charge.

When the drums pounded ever louder last season that the Patriots' season of destiny all but guaranteed a Super Bowl win over the Giants, Manning never bought in, instead earning the championship MVP honor himself. He is the one Giants' player seemingly above distraction, an attitude that earned him the nickname "Easy Eli." There was a time that moniker was as much an insult as a compliment, with his laid-back demeanor perceived as a lack of fire.

But now, with the Giants scrambling to maintain the magic of this 11-2 season, his ease in the eye of the storm is more valuable than ever. In fact, it might just be the one thing that saves this offense from implosion.