NFL Insider: Boots Made for Healing Keep Eli's Streak Alive

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning's oldest brother, Cooper, isn't a doctor. Yet he played one last week.

The part-owner of a New Orleans energy firm morphed into an amateur podiatrist in passing on 25 plantar fasciitis remedies, one of which helped his kid brother play through a painful right heel injury.

It figures the remedy the Giants quarterback embraced to ease the soft-tissue injury was a suggestion from his former University of Mississippi trainer Tim Mullins to wear cowboy boots that elevated his heel.

The Giants quarterback has proven as tough as those leather boots. His 76 consecutive starts are third behind Brett Favre's record 274 consecutive starts and older brother Peyton's 181 starts for the Indianapolis Colts.

The sixth-year quarterback is completing a career-best 64.4% of his passes to a young, emerging receiving corps.

"I got about 25 phone calls from people going, 'You don't know me. But I'm an attorney in the building here. I'm 75 years old, an avid tennis player and I've had plantar fasciitis,' " Cooper Manning said. "I got 25 of those with all different remedies.

"I'm sure he's getting plenty of medical attention with the right folks in New York.

"But I did pass on all these miracle cures myself and my dad (Archie) got. Eli took the cowboy boot suggestion."

The Giants quarterback showed no ill effects in completing 8 of 10 for 173 yards and two touchdowns while playing the first half of a 44-7 rout of the Oakland Raiders.

"He's a tough, competitive, hard-working guy who really prides himself on being available each and every week," Sirius NFL Radio analyst Rich Gannon said. "You can talk to Peyton about all his records. But the one that's most important to him is his consecutive starts streak. Eli is the same."

Eli Manning is excited to play his first game inside his hometown Superdome Sunday when the 5-0 Giants meet the 4-0 New Orleans Saints. Cooper, who's spinal stenosis ended an all-state receiving career, played several Isidore Newman High games inside the Superdome along with Peyton. Eli never did.

"The fans will give Eli a big, 'Welcome Back to New Orleans' cheer," Cooper Manning said. "Then, they're going to try and rip his head off."

Saints icon Archie and his wife, Olivia, will watch their youngest son try to enhance the "Road Warriors" identity his team etched on its Super Bowl XLII rings. The Giants have won 18 of their last 23 road games.

Cooper and Ellen Manning's 6-year-old daughter, May, received special dispensation from her catholic school to wear Giants gear Friday when classmates will wear black and gold Saints garb.

Will May's dad wear Eli's No. 10 Giants jersey Sunday?

"No jersey for me," Cooper Manning said. "I'm sure I'll get a lot of dirty looks. I'm going to try and keep my head down and enjoy the day."

Trotter back again in Philadelphia:  Resurgent Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter went from couch potato to coach on the field in a two-week span.

Trotter, who last saw action with the 2007 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, played 20 snaps in Philadelphia's 33-14 Sunday win against the Buccaneers.

With middle linebacker Stewart Bradley lost to a season-ending knee injury and veteran safety Brian Dawkins now leading the 5-0 Denver Broncos, Trotter resigned Sept. 29.

"He's been sitting on a couch, and when you come off the couch and play, the game is a little quicker," coach Andy Reid said.

Trotter is another example of Reid pulling out all the stops -- in this case, a trusted run stopper -- to win that elusive Super Bowl.

Trotter, 32, is eight years younger than Junior Seau, the Favre of linebackers who unretired for a third time Tuesday. Seau bolsters a New England Patriots defense without retired linebacker Tedy Bruschi, safety Rodney Harrison and traded veterans Mike Vrabel and Richard Seymour.