Not to suggest that victories forthcoming from the New York Football Giants are becoming an endangered species, but yours truly walked into Muddy Waters in New London for coffee Monday morning to the following announcement:

"When the Giants win," owner Barry Neistat cracked, "coffee's on the house!"

It's not like this particular business strategy will force Barry and his wife, Sue, into Chapter 11 anytime soon.

Still, it wasn't merely a victory Sunday at the Meadowlands. As Paul Schwartz of the New York Post aptly wrote, "it wasn't a perfect 10, but it was perfect for '10.'"

Indeed. The final home game and curtain call for No. 10, otherwise known as Eli Manning, hit all the right notes, including the rarity of victory for a proud franchise with nothing left but the past. And the Giants have a notable past, thanks to their greatest quarterback and more importantly, their once and future conscience.

This much we know: There would have been no sentiment Sunday at Met Life Stadium were it not for two Super Bowl victories, two playoff wins in Green Bay and others in Dallas and San Francisco. Legendary stuff in a results-oriented business. But a funny thing happened on Eli's magical way to magic: He stayed understated even when circumstances would have allowed for him to lapse into Odell Beckham-like self-indulgence.

You want to know how to act on the field or court? Just look at whatever Eli happens to be doing at the time.

This is important for many reasons, not the least of which is providing people of all ages a blueprint for how to handle success and adversity: shut up and show up the next day. There has never, ever been another Giant who personified what the Giants were back when they were the Giants: understatedly successful, even with the trappings of the big, bad city.

Here is what Miami quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, via the postgame transcript, said about him after Sunday's game:

"It was a nice moment that he had with the fans there at the end and then a classy gesture to kind of bring him out and get his ovation," Fitzpatrick said of Pat Shumur's decision to give Manning a curtain call. "I just think he's meant a lot to this league, obviously he's been a face of not just the Giants franchise, but of the league for a long time now. He's been the model of consistency for 16 years, too, in terms of staying level-headed and with all the stuff that you have to deal with in this media market.

"He's been a class act the whole way and has really handled himself well ... the class act that he is and always watching from afar the way that he handles himself, that's something that all of us NFL quarterbacks can learn from that example."

Former teammate Antrel Rolle via Twitter:

"Eli Manning!! I love you brother. You are first class all the way. I cannot thank you enough for being such a great example. Without you I will not be a Super Bowl Champion. Your legacy lives on bro. You are my hero and more importantly you are my brother."

There were many more like it.

That the Giants ultimately did right by Manning came through happenstance. Had Daniel Jones not sustained an ankle injury, Manning's career would have ended with no fanfare. Not surprising, though, for a franchise that saddled their franchise player with five years' worth of turnstiles in front of him — what passed for offensive lines — preventing many more wins.

Maybe one day, owner John Mara will have to answer for that. Manning's regular season record — 117-117 — in no way indicates his true mark on the franchise. Rather, it is Exhibit A of hideous talent evaluation and bad leadership. (He's 8-3 in the playoffs under Tom Coughlin, a real coach, by the way).

Happily, the Giants don't belong to John Mara. They belong to all the folks who went to the Meadowlands Sunday to watch a two-win team, wearing their No. 10 jerseys and chanting Manning's name. All the folks around here who had to watch the game in a bar because Channel 3 opted to show the Patriots instead. This is the Giants: A generational congregation whose loyalty knows no bounds and whose Spidey senses know Eli as one of the true pied pipers in franchise history.

In the cosmic scheme, a win Sunday over Miami barely merits a blip. But it sure meant something to all of us who remember the good ol' days. And so, we bid adieu to our guy momentarily. We'll see him on the Ring of Honor at Met Life Stadium and pretty soon in Canton, too.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro