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LAST week’s NFL meetings in Manhattan were timed perfectly for John Mara and Steve Tisch to convey hope and reason amid their disappointment. Their Giants had just won their first of six games emphatically in Denver, and there was justifiable reason for both Mara and Tisch in their first in-season meeting with the media to tinge their frustration with encouragement, their disbelief with confidence in their GM and coach.

But oh, to be a fly on the wall in the owners’ box in the final minutes of Sunday’s pathetic finish to a 24-7 loss to the Seahawks, with Giants fans gone from MetLife Stadium and only limegreen and blue Seahawks jerseys closing in on the lower rows, chanting “Hawks! Hawks!”

“I mean, it is what it is,” said corner Eli Apple, who played well individually but was left listening to the visiting fans’ chants. “They played a great game, they played a great fourth quarter especially. They deserved that moment, obviously, because they played a great game, had a lot of fans travel out, so that was just a good moment for them.”

Their chances of resurrecting this season were admittedly miniscule. Winning seven of nine coming out of their Week 8 bye would have been almost impossible, especially with the conservative game plans Ben McAdoo has been required to adopt given his roster.

Still, players on the Giants (1-6) most certainly intended to win a second straight game here, go into their bye with momentum, and come out raring to make history with a run at a 9-7 final record and a wild card berth. Eli Manning, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and D.J. Fluker all nodded at the question about what hope they still had despite all the setbacks coming in. Now? Now it’s over. Even they realize it. And Jerry Reese won’t be as lucky as the Giants’ owners. Reese is scheduled to meet the media on Tuesday.

He surely will talk about all of the Giants’ injuries, and yes, this team surely has been decimated unfairly and unusually by setbacks to many key starters, including its best player, Odell Beckham Jr.

However, Reese needs to answer for why this team was on a road to nowhere before the injuries hit, why he didn’t address his offensive line meaningfully in the offseason, and what his plan is for changing up the same-old plan that produces the same-old result: no playoff berths in five of the past six seasons.

The thing is, Manning and the Giants players actually had their heads up in a way after this loss. Manning said he’ll do his best to keep this team from losing intensity in a second half that doesn’t matter. “Can’t afford it,” Manning said. “It won’t (affect intensity) on my end, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure offensively, defensively, everybody is grinding, working and doing everything they can to be in a position to win.”

And yet, it was more resignation to a season down the drain, as well.

The Giants are 0-3 at home, and even worse, after a valiant first half from the defense and an impressive game by Landon Collins playing a second straight week on a bad ankle, when the Seahawks went up 10-7 in the third quarter, the game felt like it was over.

Bobby Hart made sure of that with a false start penalty, which led to an Aldrick Rosas missed field goal, following an earlier blocked punt on what appeared to be a missed Jerell Adams block. Then Manning fumbled when Brett Jones was beaten and Russell Wilson completed his controversial touchdown pass to Paul Richardson.

Yes, it was strange the referees gave the Seahawks possession after Richardson appeared to step out of bounds. But quibbling over that call misses the bigger picture: The Giants don’t have a roster that can consistently win games. They couldn’t run the ball after a strong outing on the ground in Denver, and outside of a special talent in rookie tight end Evan Engram, their passing game is hopeless. here were three passes by Manning to undrafted rookie receiver Travis Rudolph, for example, on which Rudolph looked unprepared to receive a pass. That’s not picking on Rudolph. It’s just illustrating how overmatched these shorthanded Giants appear, how much ground they have to make up, and how they’ve run out of time to do it. “Tough, real tough,” Fluker said of being 1-6. “You grit your teeth at that. That’s a game that I think could have been won. Now, it’s just like we have time to recover and come back as one and get everybody back, I think that’s more important than anything … It’s just about us buying in and sticking together right now. That’s the thing we’re working on right now … Each week for us is do or die, the goal is to go 1-0. Gotta have that mindset.”

It’s the only way they can think. Looking at the big picture is too depressing.

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