Last year, playing on a bad ankle that prevented him from practicing, Burress caught 70 passes for 1,025 yards and 12 touchdowns; caught the winning TD pass with 35 seconds left in the Super Bowl; and burned Pro Bowl CB Al Harris for 151 yards on 11 receptions in the NFC championship game in Green Bay.

He sat out minicamp but no longer seems unhappy, telling folks while promoting his book that he’s near a deal and that his pal Shockey will also be happy. In fact, while Shockey’s discontent seems genuine and is hardly unprecedented, there a catch: Shockey and Burress are clients of Drew Rosenhaus, an agent who goes into withdrawal whenever he and his clients are out of the limelight.

In any event, the Giants enter camp as a very solid team.

The offensive line has no superstar. But David Diehl, Rich Seubert, Shaun O’Hara, Chris Snee and Kareem McKenzie have been together three years and are one of the NFL’s most cohesive groups, a must for an OL.

The receiving corps, led by Burress, veteran Amani Toomer and Smith, is so deep the Giants might be forced to cut currently injured Super Bowl hero David Tyree. The retirement before last season of Tiki Barber turned the running back position into an efficient committee of huge Brandon Jacobs, slashing Derrick Ward and the elusive Bradshaw. It’s so deep the Giants traded Ryan Grant to Green Bay, where he became the Packers’ leading rusher.

This year’s rookies can’t be expected to produce like last year’s, one of the best classes ever in New York.

But first-rounder Kenny Phillips could replace Wilson at safety without a blip, and if he doesn’t, veteran Sammy Knight was signed as a stopgap.

And, of course, the final piece of the puzzle is Manning. He often was mediocre after being acquired in a complicated draft day deal in 2004 — San Diego took him with the first pick, then dealt him to the Giants — but was a revelation at the end of last season.

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos

Beginning with the final regular-season game, a three-point loss that allowed the Patriots to finish the regular season unbeaten, Manning went from inconsistency to stardom. In his last five games, he had 10 TD passes and just two interceptions (6-1 in the playoffs) and orchestrated a late Super Bowl-winning drive, the kind that gives any QB a pedigree that never should go away.

Unlike brother Peyton, Eli rarely lets his real thoughts get out.

“Our goal is to get better,” he says. “We are not talking about Super Bowls. We are just saying we have to get better because we have to become a better team this season. And so that is what we are working on.”

Few teams repeat as Super Bowl champions, so don’t write the Giants in, which is what everyone is doing with the Cowboys.

But don’t write them off either.