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St. Louis (2-1) at NY Giants (2-1), Sunday 1:00 pm EDT

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The New York Giants and St. Louis Rams will meet for the sixth time in seven seasons on Sunday. But this will mark the first time that Eli Manning will duel Marc Bulger.

Manning is coming off a career-high 352-yard passing performance before a hostile crowd in a 45-23 loss at San Diego last weekend. Manning originally was drafted by the Chargers, but refused to play for them and was shipped to New York.

Bulger was signed as an undrafted player by the Rams in 2001 and eventually unseated Kurt Warner as the starting quarterback. Last season, Bulger completed 66 percent of his passes and threw for 3,964 yards and 21 touchdowns with 14 interceptions as the Rams made the playoffs as a wild card.

Manning was 1-6 as a starter last season after also replacing Warner, passing for 1,043 yards and six touchdowns with nine interceptions.

He didn't compile big numbers in the Giants' first two wins this season - 42-19 over Arizona and 27-10 over New Orleans - but shined in the loss to San Diego.

Both quarterbacks have plenty of weapons. Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce remain one of the league's premier receiving tandems with Shaun McDonald and Kevin Curtis serving as the third and fourth receivers for the Rams. Steven Jackson is now the top back with Marshall Faulk serving as the all-purpose backup.

The Giants have one of the league's best all-purpose backs in Tiki Barber and feature Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer at the receiver positions with Jeremy Shockey at tight end.

But Shockey created some controversy this week by blaming coach Tom Coughlin for benching Burress in the first quarter at San Diego because he was late for meetings.

"I understand his (Coughlin's) point, but it's really not fair," Shockey said of Burress' benching. "It affects the whole team. You should have your best players on the field. The whole offense suffered from him not being there (in the first quarter)."

Burress admitted he was indeed late for a couple of meetings.

"He decided to sit me on the bench to prove a point, I guess," said Burress, who had five catches for 52 yards against San "I tried to brush it off and keep my head in the game."

Manning believes that Burress has learned his lesson.

"He knows what happened," Manning said. "He's learned from his mistakes. I don't think it will happen again."

The Rams beat Tennessee, 31-27, in their home opener last week. Bulger completed 21-of-28 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns. Holt had six receptions for 193 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown.

The Giants have won the last two meetings - 26-21 at St. Louis in September 2002 and 23-13 at Giants Stadium in September 2003.

Matchup to watch: Shockey, who had six catches for 101 yards last week, matches up against strong safety Adam Archuleta, who returned an interception 85 yards for a touchdown in the win over Tennessee.

Series: The Rams lead, 25-11, and had won five straight before dropping the last two.

Next week: St. Louis hosts Seattle, October 9 NY Giants have their bye