Eli Manning bashes Schiano's 'cheap shot' order

First it was Tom Coughlin who gave Greg Schiano a piece of his mind for his "order" to bull rush New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning during the "victory formation" on the final play of the Giants 41-34 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

During the post-game handshake, Coughlin let the former Rutgers coach know his decision to pull a lame college stunt was unacceptable and how classless the move was.

Afterwards, it was the mild-mannered Manning who showed a side of himself the public doesn't normally see.  Easy Eli ripped into the rookie NFL head coach who told his team to make taking a knee a more bruising experience.

"That was a first.  You know obviously, I think it's a little bit of a cheap shot," Manning said.  "We're taking a knee, we're in a friendly way, they are firing off and that's a way to get someone hurt."

It's not the same New Jersey you left behind coach.

The Giants had just scored three touchdowns in seven minutes to finish an amazing comeback victory.  With seconds remaining, and the game at hand, Manning went down on one knee to officially end the game.  That's when one of the Buccaneer's defensive linemen broke an unwritten rule and knocked one of the Giants linemen into Manning, who was sent tumbling to the ground.

Several of the Tampa Bay players told the Giants they were just acting on orders from Schiano.

"If they watch Rutgers, they would know, that's what we do at the end of a game," Schiano said.  "We fight until the game is over.  There's nothing dirty about it."

Not when you're playing a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback and head coach in the NFL.

"I don't think you do that at this level," Coughlin said.

Manning — who threw for a career high 510 yards and had his 23rd game-winning drive in the fourth quarter — is now in the NFL's top-10 spot for passing yards in a game.  "If you count my interception yards, I would probably be No. 1," he joked.  The winning QB was referring to the fact that Tampa Bay returned three INTs for 100 yards.

His teammates weren't so forgetful about the Buccaneers' game-ending sucker punch on Manning.

"It's a little bit of a cheap shot," said Giants defensive end Justin Tuck, " That won't be forgotten."