KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- On his final pass, Eli Manning's body language just didn't look quite right.
He took the snap, turned to his left and sort of flung the ball to Hakeem Nicks in the flat, as though he wanted his part in the play to be over as quickly as possible.
Nicks then proceeded to dart down the field and put a move on cornerback Maurice Leggett, turning in a beauty of a 54-yard touchdown play and giving the Giants a 27-3 fourth-quarter lead over Kansas City in a game they would eventually win 27-16.
But Manning was done for the day, the victim of a bruised right heel he incurred a couple of minutes earlier when all he did was step back to pass.
He was replaced by David Carr for the rest of the game. Just how long he'll be out may be learned Monday when doctors conduct an examination and Manning takes an all-important first few steps after resting the foot a night.
"I always assume I'm going to play, that I'm going to be out there," said Manning, who threw for 292 yards and three TDs for the Giants (4-0). "I've always been a pretty quick healer. I'll be doing everything I can possibly do this week to get healthy and prepared to play Oakland. We'll find out more tomorrow. I can walk around and move around, but there is some discomfort."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin noticed the problem immediately.
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"I saw it when he stepped forward to throw," he said. "We are just going to have to wait and see what they are going to do."
Manning threw two scoring passes to Steve Smith, who totaled 134 yards on 11 catches, and the Chiefs (0-4) lost for the 27th time in 29 games.
Smith has at least one TD pass in three straight games.
"Sometimes they tried to cover me. But we waited," Smith said. "Eli does a great job of waiting until I'm open."
The Giants also ran for 156 yards, led by Brandon Jacobs' 92 yards on 21 carries.
Chiefs coach Todd Haley said he was encouraged that the Chiefs played hard, but linebacker Mike Vrabel was in no mood to accept the compliment. In their last two games, the Chiefs are 2 for 26 on third-down conversions.
"We are professionals and we are expected to play hard," Vrabel said. "Regardless of where guys came from — New England, Chicago — we have to become a team."
The victory also capped a 3-0 road swing for the Giants, who strung together successive wins at Dallas, Tampa Bay and Kansas City.
"We don't look at it (road games) as that much of a challenge," said defensive end Justin Tuck, who had five tackles, including a sack of Matt Cassel for a 9-yard loss. "It's just a mentality coach Coughlin has really instilled in us. And luckily for us, we've had a lot of success on the road. When we're on the road we feel very confident."
Counting the preseason, Haley is 0-8 as a head coach.
"We've got to stick together as a team, which I think our guys are doing very well," he said. "We've got to pull together and start becoming a team much like that team across the field from us today."
