Saquon Barkley just gave peek at how Eli Manning returns as Giants QB

The Giants offense now runs through Saquon Barkley. Now and for the foreseeable future. Here is the larger question: Who gets to hand the ball to him, throw the ball to him and benefit from all that Barkley-fueled play-action that a sharp quarterback can use to his great advantage?

For now, it is Eli Manning, of course, but this recent winning surge and dramatic uptick in offensive production allows for more than a passing thought that Manning could return next season.

If he does not, the Giants need a replacement as their starter and it would not come out of the 2019 draft, considered exceptionally weak at quarterback, with no one ready to step in and play right away. If it is not Manning, it would be someone with starting experience, and the Giants will consider all their options as to whether Teddy Bridgewater, Nick Foles, Tyrod Taylor or someone else on the market is a better — and cheaper — alternative than sticking with Manning, who turns 38 next month and, unless something changes, would cost $23.2 million on the salary cap.

The decision will center on whether Manning is the quarterback who labored through the 1-7 first half of the season or the one who has won four of the past five games, a vast improvement that coincides with coach Pat Shurmur assessing the situation and reformatting the operation to accentuate more running with Barkley and less passing with Manning.

“It all goes hand in hand,’’ Shurmur said Monday. “You just can’t put Joe Schmo in at quarterback and think you’re going to win games. You’ve got to have a guy that can play the position. But the best friend of a quarterback is really the running back, because he can take some pressure off of him, but the running back can’t do it unless you block for him, so it’s all connected. That’s what we’re seeing. I think from an offensive standpoint we’re seeing a much better connection — that’s the way I would phrase it — since the bye, blocking, running, throwing, scoring points. I think in the last five weeks we’ve scored over 30 points a game, which in the first eight would have been tough to say, so it all goes hand in hand.’’

For those clinging to the notion Manning can return to fulfill the final year on his contract, the only way this makes any sense at all is if the Giants continue to operate inside-out, with Barkley as the centerpiece of an attack that features him and his massive legs, and not Manning and his smarts, arm and limited mobility.

“He’s a tremendous player; I think we’re starting to figure out that our offense runs through him a little bit,’’ Manning said after a performance that offered 20/20 vision to this approach.

Playing the first three quarters of the 40-16 blowout victory over the Redskins, Manning threw only 22 passes yet compiled a passer rating of 132.0, tossing three touchdown passes to three different receivers, showing again that with the 37-year-old version of himself, less is more.

Manning has been this way before. He came up in the league when teammate Tiki Barber was among the NFL rushing leaders.

“You know, more emphasis to run the ball and get that going and that will help out the play-action, help out getting more single-high coverages and stuff, moving the pocket,’’ he said. “Just help out the offensive line.’’

Sure enough. Before they built a 40-0 lead, the Giants were actually a slow-starting group on offense. They went three-and-out on their first two possessions and punted on their first three series.

“First quarter was a struggle,’’ right tackle Chad Wheeler said. “We were going three-and-out, back and forth I guess, us and them, seemed like a defensive game at first. I thought it was going to be a low-scoring game and then out of nowhere I see Saquon 50 yards downfield a couple of times, he just took off, Eli making big throws.’’

What sparked the turnaround?

“They got a lot of good guys on their defensive line,’’ Wheeler said. “I’m glad we ran the ball as much as we did.’’

Having a running back as the fulcrum goes against the spread-them-out, passing-fancy offenses of 2018 and might seem counterintuitive on a team that signed Odell Beckham Jr. to a $95 million deal. But with a still-developing offensive line and an older quarterback in the pocket, it makes sense. Especially when that running back is as special as Barkley.

Manning can certainly deal with this, especially if it grants him another year. It is not as if this is new to him. He recalls when handing the ball to Barber was the wisest thing to do.

“Yeah, early on with Tiki, that was definitely a time,’’ Manning said. “You know in ’05 and ’06, in those years, it was going through Tiki. Since then, not as much. I think maybe 2008 we were running it through Brandon [Jacobs] and Ahmad [Bradshaw] and Derrick Ward. So, we’ve had good running backs but it has been a little bit, and it’s good to have it back.’’

It could be the ticket to bring Manning back.

More that came out of the Giants’ fourth victory in their last five games:

– The Giants are now 100-68-4 against the Redskins and became the first NFL franchise with 100 regular-season victories against another franchise.

– These type of blowout victories are rare for the Giants. The 24-point margin of victory was the largest for the Giants since a 36-7 beatdown of the Titans in Tennessee on Dec. 7, 2014. The 34 points was the most scored by the Giants in a first half in nearly six years, since they led the Eagles 35-7 on Dec. 30, 2012. The 40-0 lead after three quarters was the largest lead for the Giants of any kind since they were ahead of the Seahawks 41-0 on Nov. 7, 2010.

– Manning is now the seventh quarterback in NFL history with at least 55,000 passing yards. He soon will be joined on the list by Philip Rivers, who is at 54,986. It is remarkable how 2004 draft classmates Manning, Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger — all so different in their personal and professional styles — continue to be linked so closely as far as statistical output and career production.

see also

Kyle Lauletta's Giants debut goes very wrong

LANDOVER, Md. — Finally, here came The Kid. Rookie Kyle…

– When Kyle Lauletta took the field and actually threw a pass, he became the first Giants rookie quarterback to attempt a pass in 15 years — since Manning in 2004.

– Could Barkley, as a rookie, lead the NFL in rushing? His surge in the second half of the season has him at 1,124 yards, within hailing distance of Ezekiel Elliott (1,262) and Todd Gurley (1,203).

– Barkley’s 13 total touchdowns (nine rushing, four receiving) is a Giants record for a rookie. He had been tied with Bill Paschal (1943) and Beckham (2014).

– Through 11 games, the Giants’ pass rush was a contradiction in terms — they had only 14 sacks as a team. After five sacks against the Bears and five more on the Redskins, the Giants now have 24 sacks.