Giants quarterback Eli Manning hasn't missed a game due to injury through his first 14 seasons in the NFL. The only game he missed since taking the reins as New York's franchise quarterback was last season, when former head coach Ben McAdoo ended his streak of 210 consecutive starts by replacing him with Geno Smith for one week before he was fired and the team went back to Manning.

How has the 37-year-old Manning been able to take the hits and get up each week? He detailed it to The MMQB's Andy Benoit.

"It's survival," Manning said, "trying to understand that over 16 weeks, you're going to take hits."

The two-time Super Bowl champion Manning has a 111-103 record as Giants starting quarterback. During his career, he's been sacked 359 times (386 including the postseason) and has totaled 296 rushes for 540 yards.

But he credits his vision, presence in the pocket and his decision-making for his ability to prevent taking massive hits.

"You just throw it and kind of continue to turn, so the defender gets a hit on your backside rather than right in the face or the chest," Manning said. "You're also falling away a little, so it's not as big of a hit -- you're kind of going with the hit. That's instinct. It's not something I work on or practice."

Manning and Benoit brought up last season's Week 14 matchup against the Cowboys as an example of his ability to read defenses to prepare for oncoming defenders. The play resulted in a 35-yard completion to tight end Evan Engram. (Go to the 1:38 mark in the video.)

As Benoit writes, Manning called an audible when he recognized that the Cowboys had a disguised fire zone blitz. By reading the blitz, he was prepared to not only find Engram open downfield, but also able to absorb a hit from Cowboys safety Xavier Woods.

"We'd checked the play knowing they were going to come with that blitz," Manning said. "Earlier in my career I wouldn't have seen the blitz, and I definitely wouldn't have had the nerve to suggest to our coaches beforehand, 'We should put this play in, I think it will work against this blitz.' I had a feeling Evan was going to be open. So I dropped back and threw it, and I kind of ducked a tackle [from the slot blitzer] so I didn't take a hit in the face."

When it comes to scrambling out of the pocket, Manning has a simple tactic: Slide.

"There are a few times where it kind of pops in your head, 'Hey, maybe I can make this guy miss.' In big games, you've got to make a guy miss, you've got to get first downs," Manning said. "But the hits aren't worth it. So a lot of it is sliding as a runner."

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