Archie Manning sees no reason Daniel Jones can’t lead Giants to Super Bowl

Back home in New Orleans, early in the 2019 season, Archie Manning did not understand the Giants’ need to bench his son Eli in favor of Daniel Jones. Archie had nothing against the coach who made the call, Pat Shurmur, or the notion that high first-round picks the likes of Jones should no longer sit and watch and wait like they did in the old days.

But still, this one hurt. As a 14-year NFL quarterback and a former high first-round pick himself, Archie Manning knew exactly what it took to play the position. And he didn’t see what others were seeing in the 16th and final season of Eli’s distinguished career.

“A lot of people thought that Eli was washed up and you got to get him out of there,” Manning said Wednesday by phone. “I didn’t feel like Eli was washed up. He was pretty much physically the same player he’d been years before that. … But he played his best football when he had a balanced running game, and they just didn’t have that his last five years there.”

So Jones, out of Duke, took Eli’s job for keeps, while Eli’s father kept watching. Archie grew up a Giants fan in Mississippi because his father adored former Ole Miss star Charlie Conerly, who helped the Giants win the NFL title in 1956. And as much as he saw Jones struggle in his first three years, losing 25 of his first 37 starts while throwing 29 interceptions and fumbling 36 times, Manning wasn’t the least bit surprised at the quarterback’s emergence in Season 4.

“I’ve always believed in Daniel,” said Manning, who had the Duke quarterback at his annual passing academy and who knew him through former Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe, a former tutor of Peyton’s and Eli’s.

“Physically Daniel is very good, and he’s bright, and he checks all the boxes. It just bothered me that [fans and media] were getting on him. It wasn’t too much different from Eli’s last few years. When you can’t run the ball, very seldom are you going to be successful in the passing game.

“So it’s great to see Saquon [Barkley] having such a good year, and that spills right over to Daniel playing better. He’s just playing a good brand of football, and he’s the nicest kid in the world. He’s got some similarities to Eli in how he handles things. He doesn’t mouth off and doesn’t make excuses.”

Informed that Giants owner John Mara had told The Post that he envisioned Jones as a future Super Bowl winner “without any hesitation,” Manning quickly embraced the assessment.

“I think Daniel can absolutely take his team to a Super Bowl,” he said. “I think Daniel can be one of the top quarterbacks in the league. He’s accurate with the football, he’s tough, he’s got escapability and he’s smart. If you put a good team around Daniel, he can lead them down the right road.”

Jones has helped the Giants to a most surprising 7-2 record by protecting the ball — he hasn’t thrown an interception since the Week 3 loss to Dallas, and he’s cut his fumbles to three — and by using his athleticism on the run. He is coming off a near perfect passer rating of 153.3 against Houston, and needs 37 rushing yards against Detroit to surpass his season high of 423, gained in 14 games in 2020.

At his locker Wednesday, Jones fielded questions about the run-heavy, Saquon-centric attack his coach, Brian Daboll, has leaned on, and about whether the quarterback would prefer to let it rip. Jones would certainly never say, “Hey, it would be nice if I had some wide receivers to work with,” so instead he maintained that he cared only about one thing.

“I think we all just want to win,” he said. “Regardless of what position you play … you want to score as many points as you can and win the game. That’s where we’re all focused. That’s where I’m focused.”

Though Jones conceded that high-scoring shootouts are “certainly fun to play in,” Daboll’s conservative approach has suited him. “I think I’ve improved week-to-week,” Jones said. “I think I probably am playing better than I have in years past.”

Archie Manning would confirm that from afar. Along with his wife, Olivia, he watches Jones every week, and Archie sends Eli’s successor text messages of support here and there. Manning told The Post that he hoped to see Jones get some help in the form of an Odell Beckham Jr. signing — “I would like to see it,” Archie said — and that he’s proud of what the Giants have achieved over the first nine games.

“I like their spirit,” he said. “They’re playing like a playoff team. But you’ve still got to finish.”

Eli Manning finished first twice in the Super Bowl, and nobody knows if Daniel Jones will ever do that. But at least he has an endorsement from Eli’s dad, which is a pretty damn good one to have.