"Tom Coughlin sent a message to Plaxico Burress when he suspended him for a game. Then Burress' teammates went out and sent an even louder statement.

The defending champs showed they can still dominate without him.

That was true Sunday against the struggling Seattle Seahawks, who got what their coach Mike Holmgren called "a good, old-fashioned you know what."

The Giants hammered Seattle, 44-6, at the Meadowlands for their biggest regular-season blowout in 36 years, since a 62-10 victory over the Philadelphia on Nov. 26, 1972. They also beat San Francisco, 49-3, in a January 1987 playoff game.

And Eli Manning didn't miss a beat without his favorite target, as he had the finest statistical day of his career.

"Plaxico is a great receiver and we do need him," said running back Brandon Jacobs. "But we've got depth behind him. We've got a lot of guys at receiver that can play."

The big one, of course, was Domenik Hixon, who replaced Burress with four catches for 102 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game with a concussion at the end of the first half. But Manning spread the ball around, completing 19 of 25 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns before he was pulled after three quarters.

Both his completion percentage (76%) and his passer rating (136.6) were the best of his career. And he was nearly matched yard for yard by a running game that overpowered the Seahawks for 254 yards, including 136 on 15 carries - or 9.1 yards per rush - by Jacobs."