THE AWARDS SECTION

	Eli Manning completed 23 of 42 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner in the final seconds, to lead the Giants to a 24-23 win over Denver. AP

Offensive Player of the Week

New York Giants QB Eli Manning. I know I have become the president of the Eli Manning Fan Club in this column, but how can I help it? With a nation watching, Manning took the Giants 83 yards in 15 frantic plays, finishing it off under heavy pressure by throwing an off-balance but accurate two-yard touchdown pass to Amani Toomer on a shallow cross with five seconds left. Manning was nine of 13 for 74 yards on the decisive drive. Giants 24, Denver 23.

Defensive Player of the Week

(Tie) The Philadelphia defense. I can't pick one player. But this swarming bunch of baying hounds was all over the great LaDainian Tomlinson for three hours, holding him to a career-low seven yards on 17 carries.

Kansas City CB Patrick Surtain, who returned to the scene of his prime Friday night to shine for the Chiefs in their 30-20 win (it wasn't that close) over the Dolphins. He had six tackles and three passes defensed and was the key to a secondary that harassed Gus Frerotte into an 11-of-29 nightmare.

Special Teams Player of the Week

(Three-way tie.)

Philadelphia S Quintin Mikell, who burst through the San Diego line with the Chargers about to kick an insurance field goal. But no! Mikell found the hole ("It was like the Red Sea opening up,'' said Mikell) and blocked the field goal attempt, allowing Matt Ware to pick up the ball and score the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Minnesota QB Brad Johnson. Hey, the Paul Edinger miracle kick to beat Green Bay would never have happened at the final gun if Johnson hadn't scraped a poor snap off the ground and set it up lickety-slit for Edinger to kick. Great, great recovery by the former Super Bowl-winning QB.

Cleveland KR Josh Cribbs, whose 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown up the left side of the field was the Browns' lone touchdown on an abysmal offensive day. Cribbs, a college quarterback at Kent State, had never returned a kickoff until last spring, when the Browns signed him as a rookie free agent. But he looked like Dante Hall on this return.

Coach of the Week

Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. Let's face it: Johnson is one of the best defensive coordinators in history. How many times has he done what he did yesterday -- design a defense to smother a great player and good offense?

Goat of the Week

Dallas QB Drew Bledsoe. He's supposed to be a smart player and smart players don't throw sideline passes into traffic, allowing a tie game to become a loss instead of an overtime game. But that's what Bledsoe did in Seattle, throwing one to Jordan Babineaux with five seconds left, letting Josh Brown boot the winning field goal at the gun.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"I'm not going to sit here and tell people morally what they should do. But there are basic principles of human decency at play here and it's not too tough to figure out if you're going to engage in that type of behavior, it's something that absolutely should happen in private. It's frustrating because every two months we seem to have a scandal around here and then the people involved decide they won't talk to the media. That leaves the rest of us, who aren't involved, to have to answer for them publicly.''

-- Injured Minnesota center Matt Birk, to SI.com's Mike Silver, on the reported wild party aboard two boats that has some Viking players in hot water with the law and with owner Zygi Wilf.

Is there a more common-sense player in the NFL than this Harvardian?

FACTOID THAT MAY ONLY INTEREST ME

Last Sunday's road game in St. Louis was the first of eight straight road games for the San Antonio-based Saints -- in St. Louis, Baton Rouge (vs. Miami), Baton Rouge (vs. Chicago), in Foxboro, in East Rutherford, in Baton Rouge (vs. Tampa Bay), in Atlanta, in Baton Rouge (vs. Carolina).

AGGRAVATING/ENJOYABLE TRAVEL NOTE OF THE WEEK

A loyal MMQB reader, Doug Kelly, a longtime network and pro football PR aide, now does some work as the radio colorman for UC Davis. The Aggies had a road game at North Dakota State on Saturday. Doug often e-mails me about travel or some NFL note, and I got a great kick out of the Aggies' travel plans for the jaunt from Davis, Calif., to Fargo, N.D.

The team flies commercial, mostly. On Friday, the team split into two groups (the entire traveling party couldn't get tickets on the same Northwest flight), one leaving campus at 7:30 a.m., the other at 9:45 a.m. to Minneapolis. Land in Minneapolis and bus 3 1/2 hours to Fargo. First group arrives in Fargo at 5:45 p.m. Second group arrives at 7:40 p.m. Second group practiced on campus before leaving. First group practiced upon arrival in Fargo.

Saturday at the Fargodome: UC-Davis 20, North Dakota State 13.

Game ends too late to get out of Fargo or to bus to Minneapolis in time to make the last flight to Sacramento Saturday. So it's a second night for all at the Fargo Radisson.

Sunday: First group flies from Fargo, at 7 a.m., to Minneapolis, changes planes  and flies to Sacramento. Arrives back on campus at noon. Second group flies from Fargo at 12:30 p.m., changes in Minneapolis, and flies to Sacramento. Arrives on campus at 8 p.m.

Doug, that is either a three-day, 61-hour ridiculous Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel ordeal or an example of just how bad some people want to play football. Or both.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Yards gained on the first 11 carries on the Ricky Williams Comeback Tour: 4, 2, -1, 3, 0, 0, -3, 4, -2, -3, 3.

Two weeks, seven yards.