Jerry Reese knew what was coming.

After making no changes to the Giants’ offensive line in the offseason, the general manager finally had to explain his reasoning for bringing back the much-maligned unit, which has contributed to the team’s unthinkable 1-6 start.

Of the first nine questions Reese was asked at his Tuesday afternoon press conference, seven were related to the offensive line.

“People like to point at the offensive line. It’s totally not all on the offensive line,” Reese said. “We win as a team. We lose as a team. It’s a whole team effort that’s caused us to be where we are right now.”

Reese is right. He is largely responsible, as he admitted. The coaching staff, too. Clearly, the offensive line carries some blame, as does a defense which has taken a tremendous step back. The season-ending injury to Odell Beckham Jr. hasn’t helped either.

But Eli Manning wasn’t doing much even with his top playmaker.

Behind the same offensive line that reached the playoffs last season, and allowed Manning to surpass 4,000 yards passing for the third straight season, the 36-year-old quarterback has led the third-lowest scoring offense (16 points per game) in the NFL, and is on pace for his fewest passing yards since 2008, and his second fewest-passing touchdowns in nine years.

Despite holding the best completion percentage of his career (64.2), Manning is averaging the fewest yards per pass (6.15) since his 2004 rookie season, a mark which has decreased every season since 2014.

With an injury-ravaged receiving corps the past two games, Manning has thrown for a total of 262 yards, while completing 30-of-58 passes. In the Giants’ lone win of the season against the Broncos, Manning was mostly a bystander, attempting just 19 passes — his lowest total in nearly 10 years.

“I can still play at a high level and can get this offense going and do better than what we’re doing,” Manning said Tuesday. “I got to play better.”

Though Sterling Shepard (ankle) is expected to return from a two-game absence after the bye, Manning will still need to rely on an inexperienced receiving corps — including Roger Lewis Jr., Tavarres King and Travis Rudolph, who have a combined 26 career receptions.

After a 24-7 loss Sunday to the Seahawks, Manning ranked 29th in the league in adjusted completion percentage after throwing catchable passes on 58.8 percent of his passes, according to Pro Football Focus, and acknowledged he needs to make the young receivers better.

“Yeah, well I think that’s definitely part of the job,” said Manning, who has 10 touchdowns and five interceptions this season, and is averaging 228.5 passing yards per game. “You got to find out what guys do well and put them in a position to make plays, throw accurate passes and give them a shot to make plays. So, it’s a combination. We have to make improvements. I have to, not coach them up, but make sure we’re doing things the right way and everybody is playing at a high level.

“Some of them, I got to stand in there and make throws.”

Reese and coach Ben McAdoo both emphatically stated this week that Manning will continue making every start for the foreseeable future, with the quarterback’s no-trade clause and massive contract for the next two seasons keeping him safe from being moved before the trade deadline next Tuesday.

Manning is set to make his 207th straight start against the Rams on Nov. 5, and in all likelihood pass his brother, Peyton, for second on the all-time list two weeks after that.

But if the second half of the season looks like the first, the streak may have to end, and the Giants may have to look forward, and give rookie Davis Webb a look under center.

“At some point, but when is that some point?” Reese said. “It’s not right now because we’re going to fight with everything we have with these nine games left and hopefully we can turn our season around.”