Big Blue and Bolts in Battle of Beatens

Yeah, they’ve met. “Adversity introduces a man to himself,’’ Giants coach Ben McAdoo said. “You really get to learn a lot about yourself and your teammates when you get off to rough starts.’’

The Giants might know too much about themselves and each other after the roughest of rough starts, a month’s worth of losing. Thus far, they have stuck together, first as the offense played like stumblebums, scoring 13 points in losses to the Cowboys and Lions, next as the defense coughed up fourth-quarter leads to the Eagles and Buccaneers. This makes them unified losers.

What already figures to be a ruined season deteriorates into something more deeply disturbing if the Giants cannot beat the Chargers on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, if they cannot come out on top of this Battle of the Beatens. This is a home game against a winless opponent. If they cannot beat the Chargers, who can they beat?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, boss,’’ Damon “Snacks’’ Harrison said. “We feel like we can win every game we’re in. Winless or not.’’

There is a big difference here. The Chargers are coming off a 5-11 season, pegged for another last-place finish in the AFC West. The Giants were 11-5 in 2016 and the anticipation was they would make a strong challenge for the NFC East title, if not win it outright. The Chargers are what most thought they would be. The Giants are not who most believed they should be.

“You’re not looking at your typical 0-4 team,’’ Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said of the Giants. “Just like we don’t think we’re a typical 0-4 team, but we are what we are.’’

Gauging the fight left in these Giants is akin to the mystery of peeling the layers off a stalk of corn on the cob. What will we find on the inside? The Giants have been lambasted at every turn, deservedly so, and have not exactly come back swinging. No wonder McAdoo is worried about a sense of “numbness” setting in.

“We love it,’’ Landon Collins said of the criticism. “Now is the time to prove what we can do, what we are going to do.’’

So, what are the Giants? Is this an angry team?

“Motivated,’’ Collins said. “I wouldn’t say angry. We ain’t angry at anything, besides ourselves. Other than that, we’re motivated to prove to ourselves.’’

This is not about saving playoff hopes or climbing back into the division race. The Giants at the moment are too far down for anything other than savingdignity mode.

“Backs against the wall and we got all odds against us,’’ Collins said. “So let’s prove to the world what we can do.’’