What’s next for Giants, as they move toward Thanksgiving NFC East showdown with Cowboys?

LONDON — So what now for these surprising Giants?

They’re 4-1 after Sunday’s shocking comeback win over the Packers, and off to their best start since they opened 5-0 in 2009.

That season perhaps serves as a cautionary tale, since the Giants closed 3-8 and missed the playoffs. Of course, back then, they were just two years removed from Eli Manning’s first Super Bowl championship. Expectations were a lot higher than they are now.

These 2022 Giants? Well, this team wasn’t supposed to be doing this.

They showed they were for real by beating the Packers in London — while equaling last season’s win total — after previously beating three seemingly less impressive teams (Titans, Panthers, and Bears).

So you have to wonder how high the ceiling is for rookie head coach Brian Daboll’s first team. A playoff berth? An NFC East title?

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Right now, the Giants and Cowboys are both 4-1 — behind the 5-0 Eagles — and on a collision course for their Thanksgiving matchup in Dallas.

There’s also this: Because the Jets are 3-2, both they and the Giants have winning records through Week 5 for the first time since midway through 2015.

Before the Giants’ Week 9 bye, they get the Ravens (home), Jaguars (away), and Seahawks (away). Baltimore is 3-2, Jacksonville 2-3, and Seattle 2-3. The Ravens are certainly a legit opponent, at least.

And coming out of the bye, the Giants get the Texans (1-3-1) and Lions (1-4) — both at home — before that Thanksgiving showdown with the Cowboys. (All along, the Giants had a relatively favorable non-division home schedule.)

If nothing else, the Giants have given themselves considerable wiggle room through five weeks, by beating two teams (Titans and Packers) that were clearly seen as superior to them entering the season.

So is it really possible that the Giants could reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016? Nobody would’ve envisioned that, coming off a five-season stretch, 2017-21, during which the Giants had a 22-59 record, tied with the Jets for the NFL’s worst.

And the last time the Giants won a playoff game? Manning’s second Super Bowl title, in 2011. For Giants fans, that feels like a lifetime ago. Manning, 41, hasn’t been the Giants’ full-time starting quarterback since 2018. He is now embracing his inner ham, as a Giants ambassador and TV personality.

He was in London this weekend. But in an amusingly (and unintentionally) cruel moment, the in-game stadium broadcast hosts announced they were about to do an interview with a former Giants quarterback and Super Bowl winner — and then brought out David Carr, who technically fits both descriptions. But come on.

For much of the past three seasons, it’s been that sort of deal for Giants fans — expecting Daniel Jones, who shares Manning’s understated demeanor during interviews as a player, to thrive just like his predecessor did … only to be let down.

But maybe things are beginning to turn for the Giants, under their new coach, even if Jones might not be a long-term quarterback solution for rookie general manager Joe Schoen.

No matter how you slice it, Sunday was a statement win for the 2022 Giants.

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It was the 32nd regular season game the NFL has staged in London ­— and the first in which both teams had winning records, since the Packers were also 3-1 coming in.

This was technically — and also practically — a road game for the Giants, as Packers fans greatly outnumbered Giants fans in the crowd of 61,024 at palatial Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Giants — eight-point underdogs — were lustily booed when they took the field before the game, the Packers boisterously cheered. The place went insane when Aaron Rodgers was introduced.

The Giants felt all that. And they responded, despite pregame attrition on offense and in-game injury issues on defense. That’s what good, well-coached teams do.

Right now, in the face of all the low preseason expectations, the Giants are both of those things. Which means the weeks ahead are suddenly all the more relevant.

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Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com.

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