One lousy week has put talk of playoffs in doubt

PAUL SCHWARTZ’S BIG BLUE PLAYBOOK

ARLINGTON, Texas — Here is a question: Do the Giants want to reveal who they are or do they want to disprove what they are thought to be?

A week ago, they were in fantastic shape, projecting ahead in the NFC playoff chase, sporting a record of 7-2 that was far superior to anything anyone envisioned for this team in Year 1 of a rebuild under new general manager Joe Schoen and new head coach Brian Daboll. It did not take a mathematics professor to estimate that 10 wins would be enough to put them in the postseason tournament, and to get there, all the Giants needed to do was go 3-5 in the second half of the season.

All it took was one miserable performance for the clear vision to become blurred. It was as if losing to the Lions 31-18 counted as more than one loss. The injuries that came out of that game might cost the Giants five starting players and that surely dims the outlook for what comes next. At 7-3, the Giants still own a fine record but how much finer it gets remains to be seen. They have scored 205 points in 10 games and given up 204. At their best, they were always on the edge.

Up next, the Cowboys share an identical record as the Giants but do not share similar status around the league. The Cowboys’ point differential is plus-84 — they have scored 46 more points than the Giants and given up 37 fewer points than the Giants. On the day the Giants were getting thrashed by the Lions, the Cowboys rolled to a rout in Minneapolis, 40-3, ending the Vikings’ winning streak at seven games. This all makes the Giants-Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game at AT&T Stadium a meeting of teams tied for second place in the NFC East behind the Eagles with the arrow seemingly pointing up for one of the teams and down for the other.

“That’s not something we’re focused on as a team,’’ Daniel Jones said. “Our focus is to prepare as well as we can to play as well as we can and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re confident in our ability to win games, to compete and find a way to make the play down the stretch to win the game.’’

This might not be a crisis point for the Giants but it sure feels like one. They have not lost consecutive games this season and they are nearly a touchdown underdog in Week 12, facing a team that left MetLife Stadium in Week 3 with a 23-16 “Monday Night Football’’ victory with Cooper Rush subbing at quarterback for injured Dak Prescott. Jones was sacked five times and hit 12 times on a night when the Giants simply could not block the Dallas defensive front. All these weeks later, the Giants go in with a battered offensive line and the Cowboys leading the NFL with 42 sacks. As matchups go this one feels tilted heavily in favor of the home team.