Simms has faith in Eli & Big Blue

THE BIG BLUE World According to Phil Simms:

“Eli’s gonna be fine.” “We’ll all know when the time is right,” for the start of the Daniel Jones Era.

“I think it’s pretty evident that Daniel Jones really knows how to play the position.”

“I would take Saquon Barkley over any running back in the NFL.”

“I think the Giants are a big team, which I love.”

Guard Kevin Zeitler “is the guy that every offensive line needs.”

“I think we’re underrating the wide receiving g roup for the Giants.”

Manning doesn’t feel 38 and his stronger right arm didn’t look 38 at Sunday’s practice, when he went 18-for-23.

“Eli’s gonna be fine,” Simms told The Post. “He’s gonna have Saquon Barkley behind him. He’s got a much better offensive line than he had last year, and it’s set up for him to really play well, I really believe that, the opportunities are there for him to have a really good year and keep everybody quit talking about the guy behind him.’’

Everybody was talking about Jones following his preseason debut against the Jets.

“That controversy over him being picked ... I think it’s over,” Simms said, “for now. Because when you talk about quarterbacks it’s always there.”

Asked if Dave Gettleman got it right, Simms said: “Time will tell. I think it’s pretty evident that Daniel Jones really knows how to play the position. A much better athlete than we all thought. He is very accurate with the football. So that’s a lot to build on. I know he’s pretty smart, too.”

The naysayers knocked Jones for a lack of “wow” plays at Duke.

“There was a question, ‘ Does he have elite arm strength?’ No, he does not,” Simms said. “But, when he needs to, he can definitely turn up the velocity to make some really good throws, which all quarterbacks need in this league to really be great.”

Of course, the Giants didn’t pay Manning $23.2 million not to be the starter at the start of the season.

“It’s a better offense this year for him, second year with it. Pat Shurmur can call plays the way he probably wanted to last year but couldn’t and run his offense and not have to make things up because they know they can’t protect long enough,” Simms said.

Yes, Simms believes there can be Life After Odell Beckham Jr.

“When you have Barkley, a really good offensive line, they got a good tight end [Evan Engram]. ... The wide receiv

ers, the group, I do not look at it and go, ‘ Wow, that’s a real problem’ at all. I think they’ll be fine, I do, because of all the other elements. When your offensive line and running back are doing what I think they’re gonna do, it gives them a much, much, much better chance of having success on the field. I think we’re underrating the wide receiving group for the Giants. ... Hey, you can’t have 11 AllPros at every position.”

There is no doubt that the Giants have one at running back. “Really good running backs make offensive lines, they make ’em,” Simms said. “If you get a good running back, it’s worth 10, 15, 20 percent to the offensive line. When Joe Morris was rolling for us, yes our offensive line was good, but he made it really good. He is definitely one of those guys.” But the eight-man boxes? “They’ll fake it to him and throw to wide open receivers, you know?” Simms said.

Engram will need to be one of those wide-open receivers, especially with Golden Tate missing the first four games.

“I would think they need him to really be a factor, a big factor,” Simms said.

Barkley will love running behind Zeitler.

“Somebody’s just gotta be that guy,” Simms said. “The roughest, toughest, never-quit SOB on the offensive line. And that’s kinda what he is. So that was a tremendous pick up for ’em.”

“Big men allow you to compete” has been a Bill Parcells-Tom Coughlin-Gettleman philosophy.

“I’ve watched all the preseason games, just about all of ’ em already, and as I looked at ’ em I just went, ‘ Boy — everybody talks about speed, speed speed,’ ” Simms said. “But as the old saying goes, ‘Fast guys slow down in the NFL as the year goes along. Big guys never get smaller.’ And the Giants got a good-sized offensive line, they’re big inside the defensive front, I think those are important things.

“I really think for them to have a good year their offense has to be really good. Their offense has gotta score, control the ball, control the tempo of a game much better than they did last year.”

Because the Giants defense is young and inexperienced.

“They need some young players, like a lot of teams, to really come through for ’em,” Simms said.

Simms believes the Giants are trending in the right direction. Can they be a playoff team?

“It has a chance to be an exciting year,” Simms said, “making the playoffs or not.”