EAST RUTHERFORD, N. J. — With six games remaining, the New York Giants are staring at a 3-7 record and some are wondering about the future of some key people, like quarterback Eli Manning and coach Tom Coughlin.

In fact, it was Manning wondering about his own future, beyond this season, but he took issue with former running back and teammate Tiki Barber discussing Coughlin’s future.

Manning will enter the final year of his contract next season, has had his ups and downs, most recently a down performance last week in which he threw five interceptions, including one on a potential winning drive against the San Francisco 49ers.

Despite his struggles, Manning has done well in his first year running Ben McAdoo’s West Coast offense. He has completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 2,495 yards and 18 touchdowns and has cut down his interceptions to 11, with five of those coming last week.

What’s more, he has done most of this so far without wide receiver Victor Cruz, who was lost for the season in Week 6 with a knee injury.

Still, all it took was one bad game reminiscent of last year’s horror show for people to start questioning whether Manning is the right quarterback to lead the Giants back to the Promised Land.

Manning believes that he is and he is hoping that next year, the final one on his contract, won’t be his final year with the only pro team he has ever known.

“That’s the best case scenario for sure,” Manning said regarding retiring as a Giant.

“This is the only franchise I’ve been a part of and I think it’s the best one. I don’t want anything else but to be here and play here and win another championship.”

Whether he will get that chance remains to be seen. The Giants are unlikely to address Manning’s contract before the end of this season, and his future with the franchise could very well be tied into what happens with Coughlin, whose fate will be determined at the end of the year.

“I’m just going to try to do my job and do it well enough to where the franchise wants to keep me here,” Manning said.

Does he believe he can deliver the goods for the Giants?

I do, I do. I felt I was throwing the ball, have been throwing the ball accurately and getting a feel for this offense,” he said.

“I feel I can still make plays and run around and create plays and make all the throws. I still feel energized every week and work extremely hard and love what I’m doing. I don’t take it for granted at all, and feel I can play at an extremely high level and take over games and do my job.”

Manning is unimpressed with recent comments made by Barber, his former teammate who did an interview for a Los Angeles radio station. Barber had strong sentiments, calling for Coughlin’s dismissal after this season.

“The Giants players are not listening to Tom Coughlin anymore,” Barber said. “As much as they want to pass the buck and ‘Oh, it was the offensive coordinator, let’s get rid of Kevin Gilbride and bring in Ben McAdoo.’ And, ‘Oh, now it’s the defensive coordinator, so maybe it’s time to get rid of Perry Fewell.’

“At some point, it trickles uphill and it has to be Tom Coughlin’s responsibility. And it is time — and I’ve held off from saying this — for them to make a change (at head coach).”

The comments from Barber, who had his best seasons under Coughlin, aren’t surprising. The former running back frequently clashed with Coughlin’s more rigid structure, and even went so far as to blame Coughlin for his early retirement after the 2006 season, accusing the head coach of robbing him “of the joy I felt playing football” in his 2007 autobiography,”Tiki: My Life in the Game and Beyond.”

In addition to Coughlin, Barber once took aim at Manning, whose leadership he once referred to as “almost comical”.

Manning, who went on to blossom as a leader following Barber’s retirement after the 2006 season, then went on to lead the Giants to the first of two Super Bowl championships in Coughlin’s tenure.

Manning has often taken the high road when it comes to his former teammate, and did so again Wednesday when asked for his reaction to Barber’s calling for Coughlin to be fired.

“That’s nice of him,” Manning said with a straight face. “It’s good to hear from old Tiki.”

Manning was then asked if a former player’s opinion calling for a coach to be fired can be a distraction.

“I think it depends on your opinion of that player,” he said. “I think that can make a big difference in how you react to it.”

Judging from Manning’s demeanor, he is definitely not impressed.