Steve Serby
Eli Manning stood inside an empty locker room late yesterday afternoon, patiently answering questions for 20 minutes, never mentioning the latest bombshell development that casts a pall over the Giants' Super Bowl dreams on what already had been Blue Monday.
"Eli, the Giants tell us that you're gonna be without Hakeem [Nicks] for three weeks now ... did you know that?" one reporter asked.
"I did," Manning said.
Nicks, his big-play go-to guy, had run the worst kind of out pattern -- out for three weeks with compartment syndrome (pressure-causing swelling) in his lower right leg, suffered late in the third quarter against the Eagles on a hard hit following a 6-yard catch. Nicks was sent yesterday to The Hospital For Special Surgery for a fasciotomy (surgical cuts to relieve the swelling) so there will be no circulation complications.
Manning was already down Steve Smith (pectoral), who will likely miss the Redskins game the following week as well and expects to be diminsihed whenever he returns. And Manning was down Ramses Barden and Victor Cruz. Now the receiving corps Sunday against the Jaguars will be Mario Manningham and the Miracles -- Derek Hagan (64 career catches with five TDs), rookie Duke Calhoun (one catch for four yards against the Eagles), perhaps former Eagles receiver Kevin Curtis, and perhaps more of tight end Travis Beckum.
It means that Manning and the Giants are now in danger of running another out route -- out of the playoffs for the second straight season.
It means The Second-Half Collapse Bandwagon is getting crowded, and the Giants are in desperate, dire straits to stage a goal-line stand against a self-fulfilling prophecy that could yet leave them with a sorry legacy as Big Apple Turnovers.
"How much can the wide receiver corps take here?" the reporter asked.
"Well, we got some guys who gotta step up," Manning said. "We'll have to be kinda creative with some formations and personnel, and get some of these young guys, whether it's Duke Calhoun, or someone else, get them where they know what they're doing, see what they do well, and let's go play."
More than anyone, of course, it is Manning who has to step up.
The Pride of the Giants has to be the one who stops The Slide of the Giants.
"You got your top two receivers out, it's always a big blow," Manning said, "but we learn how to fight through it and other guys gotta step up. ... We gotta run the ball, we gotta get guys open and get 'em keyed into what they gotta do and ...
"I gotta play great football."
Manning was asked for his definition of great football.
"Getting us in the right plays, seeing the defense, making smart decisions with the ball," he said. "Getting everybody keyed in, fired up, ready to play, and understand what we gotta do to win."
Are you confident you'll be able to play great football now?
"No doubt," Manning said. "This is when you need to play your best. This is when the playoff picture's starting to kinda shape up, and we got a lot of NFC East games left, we got three of the next four at home. ... This should be a fun time of the season and a fun time time to start winning."
It is a challenge as monumental as beating the Perfect Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
"That's part of sports," Manning said. "You kinda look forward to the challenges. You want to see kinda what your team's made of, what yourself is made of when things are kind of against you, and all odds are against you, and you're kinda up against the wall, you want to see how you respond, and what the attitude's like. I look forward to this opportunity. It'll make it that much more sweeter when you go out there and succeed."
Manning was asked if he would have looked forward to it years ago.
"Probably not," he said. "Then you're just kinda like ... you're struggling, and you're kind of depending on guys. This is a little bit more where the guys are depending on me. That's my job as a quarterback and a veteran here."
He won't be Eli Moaning.
"Moaning doesn't help," Manning said. "You start complaining about it, you start going, 'Woe is me,' it doesn't fix anything, it just makes it worse."
He'll look at life with blue-colored glasses.
"You say, 'Hey, we got a new guy coming in, probably be playing receiver, they won't have much film on him, so they won't know how to guard him, and so he'll be able to run and get open,' " Manning said, with a straight face.
Coughlin has already challenged every last Giants player to step up.
"Sometimes you gotta play above the Xs and Os," Manning said, "Everybody's gotta gather around and everybody's gotta be responsible for their job and handle their business, and we'll be fine."
It's the only slant left.
steve.serby@nypost.com
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