Eli Manning Dealing With Illness Before NFC Championship

By: Pat Prescott
01/19/2012 01:30 PM ET

Eli Manning, the New York Giants quarterback, is dealing with an illness that hit him this week ahead of the NFC Championship game this Sunday against the San Francisco 49er’s.

Manning went home on Wednesday during practice when he became sick and was placed on the Giant’s team injury report. Head Coach Tom Coughlin said he believes it’s, “a stomach bug, hopefully a 24-hour deal.”

Teammate Chris Snee said of Manning missing practice, “If there is one guy who can miss a practice Wednesday mentally, it’s No. 10.”

Snee joked, “I’m actually going to bring him some soup tomorrow, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he is at full strength.”

Adding, “Southern gumbo. Or whatever they have in the cafeteria.”

While tight end Jake Ballard said, after speculating he was going home to rest and watch game film, “He’s probably going to spend the rest of the day doing that.”

For Eli, who seemingly has lived in his big brother Peyton’s shadow since coming into the league, has as many Superbowl wins as Peyton. Now some, such as ESPN’s Skip Bayless, speculate that Eli himself could be two wins from being a ‘Hall of Fame’ lock, which would include beating San Francisco this week and winning the Superbowl on February 5th if he was facing the Patriot’s and Tom Brady.

Source: Eli Manning