Points matter most, no matter how they’re scored

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There is the complex and there is the simple, and the Giants cannot get out of their own way as they navigate, poorly, around both. They are losing primarily because their offense cannot generate enough points, a failing that leads to all sorts of analysis as to why. Why a team with Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley and Eli Manning and a rebuilt line is 29th in the NFL in scoring.

Throw it deep. Throw it deep to Odell. Run it more. Run it more with Saquon. Stop with the dump-offs and check-downs. Let Manning fire away down the field.

Coach Pat Shurmur has already admitted he needs to run it more with Barkley but he is uneasy with what he calls a “false narrative’’ that the offense is not trying to throw the ball deep.

“Everybody’s focus is, to me, it’s a little bit off,’’ Shurmur said. “We need to score more points, period, however it happens.”

Yes, yes, yes, that is the deal. So, when the Giants stumble along, scoring 18.3 points a game, there are going to be deepdives — some of them a bit extreme — as to why a team with this much offensive talent cannot reach the end zone. No one really cares how. They only care if it happens, and thus far it is not happening near enough. This is a team that competes in a league that has already set records in the first four weeks of the season for points scored, touchdowns scored and touchdown passes. And then there are the Giants.

This brings us to Sunday and a road game against the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. The first quarter of the season produced one win, three losses and a familiar sick feeling that the Giants, far too soon, are sliding into irrelevance. Forget about Halloween. They could be 1-4 and near-done by Columbus Day.

In a four-day span, the Giants have the Panthers (2-1) then Thursday night’s get together with the Super Bowl champion Eagles (2-2) at MetLife Stadium. In a hurry, the Giants’ season could be on the refuse pile.

“You never panic, but there is always urgency, and right is right, and right is playing well and winning,’’ Shurmur said.

The Giants need points, not panic. Beckham said they need to play with more heart. Manning repeatedly stresses execution. Whatever. This is the yin-yang that always arises when no one quite knows how to explain away all the losing.

If the coverage is not allowing Manning to throw it down the field to Beckham, there must be run-after-catch opportunities for a big-play receiver who has yet to reach the end zone this season.

“Just hitting guys in stride, hit guys on the move,’’ Manning said.

That would be a start.