Irreplaceable for Giants? It Applies Only to Eli In his latest post at CapitalNewYork.com, Greg Hanlon wrote on the N.F.L. version of the old saying that graveyards are full of indispensable men. He said via e-mail that he went "through all the times that people have overstated the significance" of the exits of Eli Manning's top receivers. Among the doubters before the Giants played at Carolina on Thursday, the NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders summed up the opinion in the studio: "I believe in Eli, but not without Hakeem Nicks." Hanlon wrote: Everyone should have known better. Several times throughout his career, Eli has dealt with the loss of seemingly irreplaceable weapons. Nearly each time, he has responded by proving that those weapons weren't so irreplaceable after all, and that he himself was better than people thought before: There was 2007, when Jeremy Shockey's season-ending injury might or might not have enabled Eli's sudden ascension from a mediocre quarterback to a good one. There was the 2009 season, the first without mainstay top receivers Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer, during which Eli had his best year to that point and made Steve Smith the franchise all-time leader in receptions. Most famously, there was last year, which began with panic over the loss of Smith and Kevin Boss, but ended with Victor Cruz writing a book and Eli having the best season a Giants quarterback ever has. Read the whole thing. Two other links to linger over this morning: The dubious endorsement of the week: "They just let you play football," Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan said of replacement officials. ProFootballTalk.com Mike Silver of Yahoo Sports on why Bucs Coach Greg Schiano might have been one of the least-liked men within the N.F.L., before he became coach of the Bucs.