DEEP BREATHS

Eli & Co. not panicking after terrible show by 0 in opener

WHAT, Eli worry?

“No,” Eli Manning said Wednesday. “First game, guys are playing fast, got some new guys out there, some new bodies.

“We’ll bounce back. We’ll be fine.

“We just gotta slow down, everybody take a breath, and just run the plays the way we’ve been running them all spring and all summer.”

There it is Giants fans inhale, then slowly exhale.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish in the NFL, and I think that’s an important lesson,” Manning said. “We can hopefully only get better from that first game. That’s the mindset, just have a great week of Steve Serby practice, preparation, go out there and play conf ident in what we’re doing.

“[Fifteen] other teams are 0-1 right now. We just gotta bounce back.”

But some 0-1s are uglier than others. And some film review sessions are uglier than others.

“Coaches are gonna analyze, and you can’t get too sensitive after the first game,” Manning said. “We’re gonna get coached up, and there’s things we can clean up for sure. But [you] can’t get defensive, can’t get sensitive, you just gotta be confident in what you’re doing, understand what you need to fix and then go play fast.”

No Odell Beckham Jr. is no excuse for the Big Blue offensive implosion against the Cowboys.

It doesn’t mean he won’t make a huge difference, because he will.

“Our best player,” Manning said. “It’s different when he’s on the f ield. But on there or not, we have to play better than what we did. “And we can. “And we will.” Manning stands behind his embattled offensive line. For

how long on game day, of course, no one can be certain.

“They know I got their back, and we’ll be all right,” Manning said.

Manning was asked why he believes in his offensive line.

“It’s important to ’ em,” he told The Post. “It’s a good group, they work hard, it’s important to ’ em. They know what they’re doing, they’re ready, and that’s football. Sometimes you get beat up a little bit. In the NFL, every once in a while it’s gonna happen, unfortunately it happened the first week. It’s not all their fault, this is a team effort.”

He said fans don’t need to panic.

“Offensive line’s gonna be fine. They’re gonna protect us up and give us an opportunity to make a lot of plays,” Manning said.

Right tackle Bobby Hart, who fought through a sprained ankle for most of the game, said he appreciated the support from his quarterback.

“He’s a stand-up guy, man. I feel like everyone feels that way about him and they understand that about Eli,” Hart said. “That’s what you expect from Eli. That’s just who he is as a person.”

Flush the nightmare, block out the outside noise, all eyes on the Lions now.

“No matter what they say, they tell you you’re the best in the world, but the GM don’t think so, it don’t matter,” Hart said.

This will be a referendum on the offensive line’s pride.

“I mean, it is in our face,” Justin Pugh said. “Every time I turn around, somebody is asking us what is wrong with the O-line.

“At the end of the day, the people that are making the decisions are the people that are paid to know football. They are the ones that are putting us out there, right? So, the people that are just going to watch on TV and want to make assumptions, that’s a whole other story. So, we got to go out there and keep handling our business and keep our nose to the grindstone. We can’t worry about the outside noise, because we have games to win and we have to get ready for Detroit.”

Manning said he understands the franchise quarterback has to find a way to rise above the rubble and lift his team.

“I gotta play better,” Manning said. “When you have new players and get off to a slow start, that’s when a leader’s gotta step up and do their part.”

A fast start against the Lions on Monday night will be imperative.

“You go three-and-out the first two possessions, everybody gets a little tense,” Manning said.

Manning smiled when someone asked if he was saying it can’t get any worse.

“It can always get worse. ... It can always get worse,” he said. “So I won’t say that. But hopefully, it can get a lot better though.”

Everybody take a deep breath.