DENVER — Eli Manning has more Harry Callahan in him than we ever thought he could. If the Broncos load the box tonight to stop Brandon Jacobs, if they dare Manning to beat them, the way the Falcons dared Manning to beat them, it is no longer farfetched to picture him as Clint Eastwood in shoulder pads in that coffee shop scene from “Sudden Impact,” pointing a .44 Magnum at his tormentor and spitting out through clenched teeth:
Go ahead. Make my day.
He was asked this week if he relishes that scenario.
“I feel confident with our receivers, we can make big plays, we can move the ball throwing the ball. . . . Yeah, that should be a good thing,” he said.
The Broncos defense has been so soft against the run over the last month — no fewer than 125 rushing yards allowed and a ridiculous 203 last week by the Chargers — that coordinator Mike Nolan might feel compelled to set up a roadblock for Jacobs and Danny Ware.
He will have to pick his poison. Over the past four games, Joe Flacco (20-of-25, 175 yards, 1 TD), Ben Roethlisberger (21-29, 233 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT), Jason Campbell (17-26, 193 yards, 1 TD) and Philip Rivers (17-22, 145 yards, 1 TD) have been veritable surgeons. Over the past two weeks, Manning has completed 50 of 72 passes for five TDs and one interception.
If ever there is a day for the Giants to be thankful for this quarterback, it is this day.
It is this time in this playoff season, when these Giants no longer control the game with their infantry, when opposing quarterbacks who get rid of the ball faster than you can say LT have proven to be kryptonite for Big Blue.
But Manning is more equipped than he ever has been for the possibility of a shootout — at any time, at any place. It more than likely would be the wrong time and the wrong place for Kyle Orton.
“We gotta be able to throw it and get ’em back to playing Cover 2
and stuff, and should be able to run it better, but whatever’s working, we’re gonna be able to do it,” Manning said.
The Giants do not aspire to be Air Coughlin. But the transition from Steve Spagnuolo to Bill Sheridan, combined with the loss of key personnel, most recently middle linebacker Antonio Pierce, has cost Big Blue its defensive swagger, especially in the fourth quarter.
It has put more of a burden on the quarterback. The Giants averaged 5.0 yards per game on the ground a year ago; it’s down to 4.3 this season. But Manning’s yards per attempt has risen to a career-best 7.8, up from a previous high of 6.8. His 245.4 yards per game is also a best. Both his quarterback rating (92.2) and completion percentage (60.5) are career bests.
The idea is not for Manning to carry the Giants all the time, not in December, not in the northeast corridor. But it’s nice to know that when he gets hot like this, he can.
“It’s important when you have a guy like that who can drive the ball down the field when it’s necessary. . . . he’s done it in a bunch of different situations since we’ve been here, so we’re happy that we have a guy who can do that in case we have these little mental lapses that we’ve been having,” Osi Umenyiora said. “We got an offense who has our back.”
A passing game, to be specific.
“The running game might not be what it once was because teams are loading eight, nine people in the box to stop the run, and that obviously gives a quarterback like that opportunities to find the open receiver, and he’s doing that,” Umenyiora said.
Go ahead. Make my day.
“I think that if he can get a bead on what you’re doing before the snap? I think he’s as dangerous as anybody in the league,” backup David Carr said. “When he’s sure of what’s happening . . . when the rest of his guys are sure what’s happening — ’cause I think Eli, 95 percent of the time knows what [the] defense is doing — I think if we can everybody else on the same page, I think that yeah, this offense can be as dangerous as anybody in the league.”
Go ahead. Make his day.
steve.serby@nypost.com