The fairy tale would go something like this: The Giants remember how to be Giants and upset the Cowboys on Sunday night then run the table against all odds. And when they shock the Eagles in the regular-season finale to finish 9-7, even though they missed the playoffs, the players give coach Tom Coughlin a Gatorade bath then carry him across the field on their shoulders for the midfield handshake with Chip Kelly.

“This is our coach,” general manager Jerry Reese roars, and the locker room cheers.

That’s a pipe dream.

But that is a dream Giants fans would sign up for in a heartbeat, one that would offer relief from the heartbreak of another lost season and plunge a Big Blue knife deep in the heart of Texas.

It would start, of course, with Tony Romo, so gallant and so courageous and so efficient this season, driving the Cowboys down the field with the game on the line in the fourth quarter, first-and-goal … interception by Chykie Brown in the end zone. And poor Romo lands flat on his aching back beneath Jason Pierre-Paul before being helped to the sidelines by the trainers.

No way this happens. No sir. This isn’t the Same Old Romo, and these aren’t the Same Old Cowboys.

“We are not completely dependent on any one area, defense, offense or special teams,” Romo says.

A true team indeed. But what happens if the television cameras that have been fixed obsessively on Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in his MetLife Stadium suite suddenly find him on the sideline, consulting frantically with Romo, who is wincing in pain but game as always? And Jones claps his hands enthusiastically and rushes over to coach Jason Garrett, and no one who reads the owner’s lips detects him saying, “Let’s get Brandon Weeden in there.”

You bet that the Cowboys recall that in 2008, they were 8-4. They finished 9-7. In 2011, the Cowboys were 7-4. They marched into MetLife Stadium on the final Sunday night of the regular season for a winner-take-all division showdown and were spanked 31-14, as Romo was sacked six times and was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 QB sneak at the Giants’ 10-yard line, and 8-8 meant third place.

“It’s extremely painful and it’s a damn shame,” Jones said at the time.

“It starts with me as the head coach, our coaching staff needs to get better, our players need to get better,” Garrett said at the time.

Garrett has gotten better, his coaching staff has gotten better, his players have gotten better. Except the Eagles will be invading Jerry World for a monster first-place showdown on Thanksgiving evening. Except these are not the Same Old Cowboys.

“We got to focus on the task at hand,” Dallas running back DeMarco Murray says. “The task is obviously the Giants. We’re not looking past those guys.”

Of course they aren’t. But what if Eli Manning begins playing catch with Odell Beckham Jr.? While Dez Bryant is going ballistic on the visiting sidelines, flailing his arms wildly and screaming for all to hear in front of Romo? And what happens if, on the fourth straight fade following first-and-goal at the 4, Manning hits Corey Washington in the right corner of the end zone against Orlando Scandrick to give the Giants a 21-20 lead with 3:30 left?

Of course, this 2014 version of Romo always can pull one out. But what happens if a delayed draw call to Murray works like a charm — until he fumbles and sprains his knee at the same time?

What happens if Romo, given one last chance, hits tight end Jason Witten with a deep seam pass then Bryant makes a circus catch and the clock is ticking, and Dan Bailey lines up for the 21-yard game-winner with 1:19 left … and Romo is sent in by Jones as the holder … and he fumbles the snap … scrambles … and is tackled from behind at the 2?

And the television cameras, naturally, pan to Jones, who is crying? Before being locked out of the Cowboys locker room? Where a tearful Bryant is emoting, “That’s my quarterback!”

That’s not the vision the Cowboys have entering Sunday’s game.

“We got a big game Sunday night, against a division rival and a group of men that have had a lot of success, regardless of their record,” Witten said.

No one needs to remind him that the group of men he references hasn’t had a lot of success since they won Super Bowl XLVI three winters ago. And no one needs to remind him that the group of men he is playing with never has won a Super Bowl. Or to remind him that the group of men who have played for Jones and the Cowboys last won a Super Bowl XIX winters ago. But not to worry.

These are not the Same Old Cowboys … unless and until they are.