All the damage inflicted by a four-game losing streak could not be repaired by one close-call victory. The Giants know this. They are firmly in the NFC wild-card hunt, but there’s little room for slip-ups as they brace to face the Broncos in tonight’s Thanksgiving battle at Invesco Field at Mile High.
These are a pair of 6-4 teams that can relate to each other. The Giants were 5-0 before falling. The Broncos were 6-0 before sliding. The Giants hope their 34-31 overtime victory over the Falcons is the start of something, but a suspect defense must be considered a weak link until proven otherwise. The Broncos have been outscored 117-37 in their 0-4 plummet from atop the AFC West.
“Hey, we were suffering, too,” linebacker Chase Blackburn said. “I still don’t believe we’re all the way back. We’re not out of the hole. We’re still in third place in the NFC East right now. We still have a lot to prove. I think if the season was over today, I don’t believe we’d make the playoffs right now. That’s motivation for us.”
He’s right. Big Blue would lose a tiebreaker for the wild-card spots. But a win tonight could change that.
A look inside the game:
BEST BATTLE
Broncos OLB Elvis Dumervil vs. Giants LT David Diehl: At 5-foot-11 and 248 pounds
Dumervil is an extremely short and quick battering ram and leads the NFL with 12 sacks.
Diehl (6-5, 319) dwarfs him, but first he has to catch him, no easy task.
“He’s probably one of the shortest guys in the league, but he uses that to his advantage,” Diehl said. “He has long arms, he stays low, he’s powerful, he’s got a good base. You work on knee bend, getting low. I use my long arms to my advantage, keeping him away from me, keeping him so he doesn’t get to your body.”
ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
There’s a reason why they call it Mile High and the thin air is difficult for the visiting team to acclimate to and endure throughout a long game. “Hydration, lots of rest, no alcohol,” Tom Coughlin said, adding the Giants will have oxygen tanks on their sideline.
“I’m not going to lie and say the altitude is not going to be an issue for some people,” said rookie cornerback D.J. Johnson, who two weeks ago was signed off the Broncos practice squad. “People that go out there, you’re going to be tired for real. People are going to be fatigued naturally because their body is not having the same amount of time to readjust. It can become a mental thing.”
ZONED IN
In the past two games, Eli Manning has completed 69 percent of his passes for 599 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. He’s hot. Can he carry the team?
“He looked great,” tight end Kevin Boss said of his quarterback’s showing last week. “Dropping in those balls on the sidelines, pretty impressive throws.”
GIVE THANKS
Playing on three days’ rest is a new experience for almost all the Giants but not so for the Broncos, who are playing on Thanksgiving for the third time in the past five years.
SAFE AT HOME
Kyle Orton is fourth in the league in interception percentage. He’s been picked off five times in 316 pass attempts, or 1.6 percent. That he doesn’t make many glaring mistakes is his main attribute. He’s also most dangerous at home, as his winning percentage of .857 (18-3) at home as a starter is the best since the 1970 merger. Orton has a high ankle sprain and didn’t start last week vs. the Chargers. Chris Simms got the call — his first start in three years — and was awful, forcing Orton to come off the bench in a 32-3 loss.
TIGHT SPOT
This continues a stretch of games in which the Giants will face a quality tight end. And they have not fared well. They could not contain Tony Gonzalez last week and unless linebacker Michael Boley rises to the challenge they don’t really have anyone capable of dropping into coverage and getting the job done. The spotlight tonight is on Tony Scheffler, a 6-6 target. Since 2006, he leads all tight ends with 13.5 yards per reception.
paul.schwartz@nypost.com