If they are true Giants, if they are the team they alone believe they are, even after all the calamity that has hit them harder than Lawrence Taylor used to hit Ron Jaworski, they will not allow the Rams to spoil their home opener on Monday Night Football and further infuriate a restless fan base.
An 0-2 start — on the heels of two seasons out of the playoffs while the Jets played in two AFC Championship Games, on the heels of the Eagles dominating free agency the way they did and the Giants watching the parade go by — may be acceptable in places such as Cleveland, or Carolina.
But not here.
When Wellngton Mara hired and introduced Tom Coughlin as head coach of the New York Football Giants, he compared him to Vince Lombardi.
There is no better time than now for Coughlin to channel whatever inner Lombardi the legendary late owner saw in him to send his team this urgent message:
Winning isn’t everything. But it’s the only thing.
Because already, Week 2 has become a referendum on Giants Pride.
“This is definitely one we have to have,” Brandon Jacobs said. “You have to win. You win to keep jobs. You don’t want to be one of those teams at the end of the season that’s playing the last couple of games for absolutely nothing.”
Steve Spagnuolo’s Rams are banged up, too. But the Rams, for as much progress as they have made, do not have realistic Super Bowl expectations like the Giants have this season, every season.
No excuses.
Win or else.
Don’t dare lose the damn game.
If you allow Sam Bradford, a second-year quarterback, probably without the help of his best receiver (Danny Amendola) and marquee running back (Steven Jackson) to spoil your home opener on a night when you better be fueled with desperation, then Coughlin has a full-blown crisis on his hands and white-hot heat on the hot seat. Especially on a night when the entire organization has its fingers crossed that defensive end Justin Tuck, encouraged by how his neck responded yesterday in practice, will be able to return.
No one felt sorry for the Giants when they started their last Super season 0-2. And no one feels sorry for the Giants now even after losing what feels like half their defense and Frank Gifford and Mark Bavaro on offense. Just because Coughlin was Tom Terrific at weathering that storm four seasons ago with Spagnuolo by his side doesn’t mean he will be able to do it this time with Perry Fewell by his side.
No one felt sorry for Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick when they lost Phil Simms and had to upset Joe Montana in San Francisco and then the Bills in Super Bowl XXV with Jeff Hostetler.
But Coughlin and the Giants better not wait to make their stand because those Dream Team Eagles are waiting to turn the season into a Big Blue Nightmare six days after the Rams. Since 1990, only 12.4 percent of teams that started 0-2 made the playoffs.
“I’m not even worried about the Eagles the following week,” Chris Snee said, “but it’s just important to avoid the 0-2 hole and to get the winning feeling around here. Mondays after you lose . . . I hate it. I hate coming in here and knowing that you’re watching a tape that is not your best product put on the field.
“We know that we’re a much better team than we displayed last week and we’re just eager to show everyone and show ourselves that we are better than that.”
How do you know you’re a much better team than you displayed?
“’Cause I’m telling you we are.”
You are?
“Yeah. I’m not going off by what people who don’t play football say. I go off what I know and what I’ve seen from this team in preseason.”
To the franchise that parrots Coughlin’s “talk is cheap, play the game,” there is this message:
Don’t just tell us, show us.
“This week we’ve had a different mindset, a different focus, and guys are really flying around the ball and having good days of practice, and it’s all about converting that over to the game,” David Diehl said.
Different mindset in what way?
“We have high expectations for ourselves,” Diehl said. “We believe in one another. . . . It’s just a focus of making sure we take care of every detail, every assignment. . . . All the little things can be big things during the course of a game, so we’re making sure we take care of all that.”
It is time for The Real Giants to please stand up.
“This is time where all of us have to rally around each other,” Diehl said.
Time for the Silence of the Rams. Or what will soon be the Silence of the Giants.
steve.serby@nypost.com