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What we know now about these Giants and what we know soon after now will mean all the difference.
By around midnight Sunday night, the Giants either will have shown themselves to be a worthy contender in the NFC playoff chase, or else living on fumes off last year’s Super Bowl triumph.
They are rested and healthier than they have been in weeks, in first place in the NFC East, riding a two-game losing streak, playing at home, brimming with incentive and talking up this six-game closing stretch with all the proper urgency.
The challenge of facing the Packers always is immense, but if the Giants aren’t up to it, if they continue to go 0-for-November, what’s to say they are going to awaken any time soon?
“Dallas is right on our tails. We know what our schedule is like the rest of the way,’’ Justin Tuck said. “They’re coming in our house, Sunday night football, the whole world gonna be watching. This is probably a team, if everything goes right, we’ll see again in the playoffs, hopefully. We both are fighting for positions in the playoff race.
“We’ve played [shoddy] football the past couple weeks. We really would like to swing this momentum back in our favor. We really like to come out this football game feeling very confident about where we are as a football team heading into the rest of the schedule. It will be a great measuring stick for our football team to see exactly where we are.’’
A look inside the game:
BEST BATTLE
Packers LT Marshall Newhouse vs. Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul. Newhouse has started every game, but he hardly is a franchise left tackle. Last season, his first as an NFL starter, he allowed eight sacks and eight quarterback hits, according to Pro Football Focus. Newhouse is greatly improved but figures to need help here. Pierre-Paul has shown flashes but, unlike 2011, hasn’t had that “wow’’ game, yet.
HIT THE SACK
The Giants used to get all the pub about being a feared defensive front, but it’s the Packers who come in as the masters, as their 33 sacks is second only to the Broncos’ 35. Actually, it’s not the Green Bay front that is applying the pressure, as LB Clay Matthews leads the Pack with nine sacks — no one else on the team has more than three. That’s why the absence of Matthews to a hamstring injury is so huge. He cannot be replaced, so the Giants catch a big, big break.
ELI SAYS HELLO AFTER BYE
Naturally, Eli Manning says he hasn’t given his remarkable post-bye success any thought, but it’s real and it’s spectacular. In his past four games coming off the regular-season bye week, he has thrown 10 touchdowns and only one interception. He hasn’t had a vintage performance in more than a month, hasn’t compiled a quarterback rating above 78.9 in five games and hasn’t thrown in a scoring pass in three straight games for the first time since he was a rookie.
LINE DANCE
The one glaring Achilles’ heel to the Packers’ offense is how many hits Aaron Rodgers takes. Despite his great escapeability, he has been sacked 32 times and his protection can be suspect.
“Obviously their offensive line is a little bit thin right now, we know that,’’ linebacker Chase Blackburn said. “They have some guys nicked up.’’
What the Packers have are some emergency maneuvers. They lost stalwart right tackle Bryan Bulaga for the season two weeks ago to a hip injury and as a result they moved T.J. Lang from left guard to right tackle and moved backup Evan Dietrick-Smith from the bench to left guard. It’s an area the underachieving Giants defensive line must exploit if they are to slow the Green Bay attack.
“We’ve had games where we played pretty good and there are games where almost non-existent,’’ Tuck said. “I think there’s a lot of pressure on us to get back to playing out style of football up front.’’
CAN KENNY PHIL IN?
Safety Kenny Phillips was asked this past week how Packers do-everything offensive threat Randall Cobb compares with other top players he’s seen this season. Phillips smiled weakly and said, “I’ve been out the last six weeks, I haven’t seen no one.’’
Indeed, Phillips has been MIA since early in the loss to the Eagles on Sept. 30, when he strained right knee ligaments. The Giants need an injection of something to their sluggish defense, and perhaps Phillips can provide the lift, like Osi Umenyiora did last season when he returned from a knee injury.
“It allows us to put more packages in, it allows us to move a lot of guys around, allows us to show different looks that offenses haven’t seen us with yet,’’ Tuck said of the return of Phillips. “It gives us a lot more options back there on the back end. We’re just happy to have him back. He’s a helluva football player.’’
BIG GAME OR BIG TEASE?
There’s that tempting line of reasoning with the Giants that “they win these type of games.’’ They stretched that logic to the limit last season and don’t want to force themselves into such a desperate position this year. A loss means the second-half swoon questions grow deafening; a victory means it’s the Same Old Giants, in a good way.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for us and it has got a familiar feel to it for our football team,’’ defensive tackle Chris Canty said. “I think the bye week came at a great time for us to refresh. It only matters if we take advantage of the opportunity. Coach had a quote, it said somebody will take the opportunities that you miss.”
paul.schwartz@nypost.com
PAUL’S PICK
We’re in a “show me’’ mode with the Giants: They need to show it before we believe it. They haven’t done anything exceptionally well for so long it’s hard to project if a breakout performance is due or always a week away. Several factors favor the Giants but one big one — Aaron Rodgers — does not.
Packers 31, Giants 24