Peyton Manning fooled Cowboys defense AND Broncos offense on rushing touchdown (GIF)

While everyone on the Dallas Cowboys defense piled on Knowshon Moreno on this second quarter play, Peyton Manning faked out everyone by moseying in for his first rushing touchdown in five years. And even his own Broncos teammates didn't know Manning had planned to scamper left for the score.

After the game, the Denver Broncos tweeted that Manning didn't even tell his own team that he was going to take it in himself on this third-and-goal jaunt so his offense would sell the running back up-the-middle play better.

Manning said he was the only one that knew he'd keep the ball on his TD run so that everyone else would sell the RB run better.
— Denver Broncos (@DenverBroncos) October 7, 2013

Manning already had three TD passes in the first half and — after his unmolested run faked out everyone from the cameraman to his own team — the Broncos quarterback even did a little fist pump as he crossed the goal line.

Omaha!

Giants counting on Manning to close gap in NFC East — Peyton Manning that is

If the New York Giants have any chance of salvaging this season, it sounds like the team believes it will have to pin their slim hopes on the broad shoulders of a Manning or two.

If there was ever a good time for Giants quarterback Eli Manning to cash in on a family favor — it couldn't have come at a better time than this weekend.

As the Oh-and-four Giants regroup after Sunday's  31-7 shellacking at the hands of the Chiefs, salvation might come in the form of a quarterback from another team —namely Eli's big brother Peyton.

The division-leading Cowboys play Peyton's Broncos on Sunday and it sounded like Eli is already counting on that game as a win for his big brother and his seemingly unstoppable offense.

"Dallas is going to Denver this week, so we feel we’ve got to get a win here and hopefully we’ll get a win and we can be one game back," said the optimistic Eli on Monday.

The game is actually being played in Dallas, but Eli's point is taken.

Luckily for the pathetic Giants, every other team in the NFC East are almost as bad. The Cowboys are on top with a 2-2 record and the Eagles and Redskins each have one victory. Even with a four game losing streak to start the season, the Giants are only two games back.

The Giants have an opportunity to close the gap on Sunday. Don't discount what a little brotherly love can do.

Tabloid's back page mocks Eli Manning after tough loss to brother Peyton

The back page of today's N.Y. Daily News with the headline "MOMMY" says it all about Eli Manning's third loss to big brother Peyton ... and it can't comforting to either one.

Sunday afternoon’s showdown with the dominant Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium was supposed to be one last chance for Eli to beat Big Bro in a regular season game, and maybe lead to one more match-up in the same place at this year's Super Bowl.  

But the idea of the Manning Bowl IV was a moot point for the Giants quarterback after an embarrassing 41-23 loss to the Broncos in front of mom and dad in the stands.

And a kiss and a Band-Aid won't make this loss feel any better.

Never mind that Eli got another noogie from Peyton and fell to 0-3 against Big Bro. The Giants are going to have to convince everyone that they’re a better team than their record shows, and that these two season-opening losses could have been wins.

Eli Manning has 'anointed' portrait of himself hanging in home

Who knew humble old Eli Manning was hiding a little bit of A-Rod narcissism inside?

The New York Giants quarterback — known for his Aw shucks personality — is also a serious art collector who keeps a portrait of himself titled "Annointed" hanging in his vast collection of works.

“He would appear to be anointed, in the parlance of our Protestant religious fables and myths,” said Mississippi-born artist and family friend William Dunlap, who painted  the portrait and misspelled the word — with an extra “n”— in gold leaf.

“It wasn’t intentional,” Dunlap said of the spelling fumble. “There’s no secret message there.”

Dunlap, 69, said the painting’s title refers to Manning’s bloodlines — father Archie quarterbacked the Saints for a decade, and future Hall of Fame brother Peyton is Denver’s leader on the field.

“Annointed” was shipped to New Jersey, where Manning lives during football season, Dunlap said.

While not nearly as vain as the Yankee third baseman's infamous Centaur self-portrait rumored to be hanging over his bed, Annointed hangs prominently in Manning's Hoboken abode.

But Manning's tastes are more than pedestrian — his Big Blue Period collection includes abstract impressionist Ida Kohlmeyer, and Theora Hamblett, a Mississippi artist whose work has hung in the Museum of Modern Art and in the home of Nelson Rockefeller.

According to The New York Post, the Renaissance Man's (he also acts) art collection also includes a depiction of the Williams Brothers Store — a Mississippi market opened in 1907 by Manning’s great-grandfather and great-great-uncle. The allegorical image includes six hounds, five of them meant to represent members of the Manning clan — parents Archie and Olivia, and brothers Cooper, Peyton and Eli, Dunlap said.

On Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Eli's Giants will square off against Peyton and the Broncos in Manning Bowl III — in what can now only be called a dogfight.

Colts' Andrew Luck has likeness created in Indiana cornfield maze (PHOTO)

One way you know you've made it in the mid-west is to have your image carved out in a cornfield. Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is the latest middle-American star to be granted that honor.

This 12-acre corn field maze in Waterloo, Indiana with the Indianapolis QB's image gouged out of the 10-foot stalks will be open to the public on Sept. 21. According to Larry Smith, whose family runs the maze, the idea came about after a friend carved a Peyton Manning maze in Denver last year.

Smith said he got permission from Luck and the Colts to use their logo. He's also invited the second-year QB to the maze but hasn't heard anything yet.

The maze, which was tweeted out by ESPN’s Darren Rovell not only features the likeness of Luck (while in mid-pass), but has his name and a cut-out horseshoe resembling the Colts’ logo, none of which could have been easy to do. Aliens couldn't have done it any better.

Call it an amazing maize maze.

Eli Manning says Peyton made it `look easy' against Ravens

After Peyton Manning joined Sid Luckman, Adrian Burk, George Blanda, YA Tittle and Joe Kapp as the only NFL quarterbacks to throw seven touchdowns in a single game, Eli Manning chimed in on his big brother's remarkable feat.

The New York Giants quarterback downplayed Thursday night's brilliant performance by Peyton as only a younger sibling could.

“Yeah, he did okay,” Eli Manning deadpanned to the Giants website. “He did alright. He makes it look easy. I don’t appreciate that. I know it definitely is harder than what it looked like, especially that second half. But he played pretty outstanding. It was fun to watch.”

The older Manning threw a franchise-record seven touchdowns in the Denver Broncos’ 49-27 victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens in Denver. He became the first quarterback to do so since former Vikings’ Kapp accomplished the feat in 1969.

He completed 27 of 42 passes for 462 with the seven touchdowns and no interceptions.

Still, Eli has a pair of Super Bowl rings — as opposed to Peyton's one — to help keep things into perspective.  The brothers will face each other in the third Manning Bowl at MetLife Stadium next Sunday.

First photos of Eli and Abby Manning's newest little Giant

A day after DIRECTV debuted Eli and Peyton Manning's rap video commercial, the New York Giants quarterback and his wife Abby had their new baby daughter's first photos published.

Eli — more than anyone —knows being the younger sibling to a star isn't easy, so when Abby took little Lucy Thomas Manning for a stroll around their Hoboken, N.J. neighborhood with her older sister Ava Frances on Tuesday, the six-week-old "rookie" followed her rappin' dad's lead and just studied the first-born, according to The New York Post.

Abby wore workout shorts and sneakers for her day out with their little girls and the public’s first look at well-behaved newborn, who reportedly didn’t utter a single shout-out from her stroller.

The 32-year-old Eli and his college-sweetheart wife welcomed Lucy to the world on June 17. Three-year-old Ava Frances was born in March 2010.

In an interview with Parents magazine last year, Eli said raising children brings a lot more surprises than any football game — even the Super Bowl.

“In terms of the Super Bowl, I know what to expect,” he said. “With parenting, this has been a brand-new experience. It’s life-changing. Every day, you learn something new.”

Lucy and Ava are members of football’s most famous family. Dad Eli has led the Giants to two Super Bowl wins, while uncle Peyton — quarterback of the Denver Broncos — won one title with the Colts.

And grandpa Archie played for 14 years in the NFL.

Eli Manning said he doesn’t care that he has girls and no boys.

“I think a lot of guys want a son because of all of the things they do while growing up,” he said. “Having a girl is a blast. I don’t care what happens down the road, as long as the children are healthy.”

One piece of advice. Stick to quarterbacking Lucy, a rap career just seems like a reach. Just sayin'.

Tiki Barber: Eli is better than big brother Peyton

It sounds like the feud between Tiki Barber and Eli Manning has taken an about face and now the former Giants running back is singing the praises of Eli — going as far as to call him a better quarterback than his brother Peyton.

Barber, who co-hosts the Morning Show with Brandon Tierney and Dana Jacobsen on the CBS Sports Radio Network, said on Wednesday's show that he thinks Eli is better than Peyton.

"The expectation was that he was never going to be Peyton. I remember having these conversations with people who watched Eli in college, saying, 'He's good, but he's never going to be Peyton, he's not Peyton.' Guess what? I think he's better than Peyton," Barber said. "Because of clutch. What matters in sports? It's winning and losing. You get to the stage and what do you do? Eli's gotten there and he's won."

For the record, Eli's career postseason record is while big brother's is 9-11.

Barber, who played with —and criticized — Eli for three seasons in New York, didn't stop there. He also said Eli could be in the conversation for top-five quarterback of all time if he has a couple more successful seasons.

"For Eli to crack the top five of all time, he's got to have a 2011 [type] season a couple more times and win another Super Bowl and be Super Bowl MVP, and then I think he's in the discussion for the top five [quarterbacks] of all time," Barber said.

It's quite a turn for the Giants' pariah. Barber publicly questioned Manning's leadership abilities back in 2007 — after Barber retired. When Eli responded, the fight was on. 

Barber was quoted as saying that when Eli tried to give motivational pre-game speeches, he sounded "comical." When Manning heard the comments from Barber, he replied that maybe Barber should take a look at himself first, because Barber's pending retirement had served as a distraction all season long.

Manning went on to win the first of his two Super Bowls that season while Barber watched from his couch.

Since then, Manning has gone on to become one of the most-respected elite quarterbacks in the NFL while Tiki has pretty much faded from view and favor with Giants fans.

In 2011, Manning threw 29 touchdown passes on the way to leading the Giants to a Super Bowl win over the Patriots, the second Super Bowl win of Eli's career. Eli's 4,933 passing yards in 2011 is the eighth-highest single-season total in NFL history and is 233 yards more than Peyton's best single-season performance. Something even Barber has to acknowledge.

"As much as you want to try and diminish what he's done, you can't," Barber said of Manning. "Every stat and conversation point supports what he's done."

Manning Bowl III is set for Sept. 15 when they meet at MetLife Stadium and Peyton goes for the sweep.

And, just maybe, there will be a Giants-Broncos matchup in Super Bowl XLVIII in the same place to settle the argument once and for all.

First look at Eli and Peyton's new DirecTV characters

Every year the NFL preseason brings with it high hopes and — in the case of the Manning brothers — low comedy. And tt sure beats Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

This summer is no different reports TMZ,  after Eli and Peyton were spotted in character on a New Orleans film location and the gossip site posted the photographic proof.

According toTMZ:

He's already got 2 ringz ... but this week, Eli Manning threw on 2 Chainz ... and gangster'd himself out (along with his brother Peyton) ... for another DirecTV commercial shoot in New Orleans, and TMZ has the pic. 

With Eli sporting a red Kanye-inspired jacket and a quasi-mullet ... and Peyton sporting a Jew-fro and Birdman shades ... we're guessing the NFL superstars were doing another one of those goofy spots for Sunday Ticket. 

It wouldn't be the first time Saturday Night Live's favorite NFL siblings camped it up together.  Who could forget the gut-busting 'Football Cops."