Jacksonville Jaguars could really use Eli Manning

The biggest thing New York Giants fans should take away from Wild-Card Weekend? The Jacksonville Jaguars would have a much better chance to go deep in the playoffs with Eli Manning at quarterback.

How could anyone watch the Jaguars’ 10-3 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, in which Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles ran for 88 yards and passed for only 87 and not think Tom Coughlin had thoughts about how far the Jaguars could go with Manning at the helm?

Bortles narrowly avoided becoming the first quarterback since 1958 to run for more yards than he passed for while attempting 25 passes. Bortles attempted 23. His best play of the entire game was probably a scramble for a first down after he dropped a perfect shotgun snap.

The Jaguars clearly played around Bortles on Sunday, consistently throwing screens in long-yardage situations to avoid mistakes and just hope their dominant defense could beat the Bills. Which it did.

Jacksonville coach Doug Marrone, though, knows the Jaguars can’t beat the Pittsburgh Steelers without better offense.

“Right now I’ll think about that tomorrow. I’m really excited about the game. But we never really got into a rhythm,” Marrone said after the win. “We were not able to get anything on the third down, so I’d be a fool to sit here and say I’m not concerned. But I’m going to take a step back and go ahead and look at it again. I know what happened but I am just saying obviously if you want to continue to keep playing, you are going to have to do a better job.”

After what we saw Sunday, you have to believe Coughlin will pick up the phone and ask Dave Gettleman and John Mara if there is a way to put Manning in a Jacksonville uniform next season.