NFL

Giants’ win shows why Manning is franchise QB

A week earlier, an avalanche of angst overcame the hand-wringers and the head-shakers and the shoulder-shruggers, all who specialize in lamenting Eli Manning’s flaws, in underlining all the things he can’t do. One heavy-footed lumber to daylight, one clumsy dive, one ill-timed fumble; it had cost the Giants dearly against the Eagles.

You may have heard about it.

This, then, was the flip side. This was a masterwork, a reminder of the other, thicker, deeper portfolio, the one containing all the testimony necessary why Manning really is the franchise quarterback some franchises search decades for. You don’t find these salvations in statistics, though Manning’s were terrific, 226 yards passing and two touchdowns and a rating of 117.7.

BOX SCORE

PHOTOS: GIANTS BEAT JAGUARS, 24-20

COMPLETE GIANTS COVERAGE

No, Manning will never be the darling of those practitioners of football’s version of Sabermetrics. You have to actually watch him play football week to week, year to year. You actually have to watch him play the position of quarterback. You have to watch his eyes, every bit as closely as his arm.

“Eli knows what he’s doing out there,” tight end Kevin Boss said.

The Giants were booed off the field at halftime at New Meadowlands Stadium, they looked lethargic and disinterested on both sides of the ball as the Jaguars toyed with them and barreled over them. It was 17-6 and could have been worse. It was still 20-17, Jaguars, when Manning trotted onto the field with 5 minutes and 55 seconds left.

“Our job there, we have an opportunity to make things right after all we’d been through, to make some plays and win the game,” Manning said. “My job is to make sure everyone is in position to make those plays. It’s all there for us.”

They were only this close because Manning was able to ignore that his two favorite receivers were in street clothes, that his offensive line remained banged up and make-shift, that the Jaguars were fearlessly throwing different looks and different blitzes at him, trying to confuse him. But with only half his options and half his playbook at his disposal, he kept the Giants in the game.

Now, he would win it for them.

It helped that his running backs were both superb, Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw combining for 136 hard-earned yards, Jacobs rumbling for an 18-yarder on this decisive drive and missing out on a 50-yard touchdown run by the width of a shoelace and one lucky finger. But now it was third-and-10, there was only 3:24 left, the Giants were at the Jacksonville 32, meaning they were right at the edge of field goal range.

And this is where it is awfully useful to have Eli Manning in your huddle. He sensed the Jaguars would show an all-out blitz. He told Boss to be ready. At this point, at the line of scrimmage, a quarterback and a receiver rely on past truths and present trusts: Manning saw what he thought he would see. Boss saw it too.

“We were on the same page,” Boss said. “We read it ‘hot.’ It was a good read by Eli and I was able to recognize it right away, and I looked for the ball as soon as I could.”

Manning: “You hope he can make it near the [first-down] line, maybe fall across.”

Only the Jaguars, foiled by Manning’s quick decision-making, forgot to tackle Boss. Once he shook free there was nothing but fake green grass and inviting blue end zone ahead of him. It was 24-20. The defense would still have to take its encore, make a couple of plays to make all of this official. It was Manning who gave them the chance.

“A big play,” coach Tom Coughlin said, “by guys who give us those kinds of plays and it was an outstanding time to do that.”

It will be on the Giants to prove if this was reprieve or renaissance, and they aren’t likely to be whole for much of the journey to come. They’ll worry about that soon enough.

“I’ll enjoy this for now,” the coach said, after his quarterback gave him the privilege to do so.

michael.vaccaro@nypost.com