So, how do we measure this?

What are we to make of the Giants loss to the Patriots on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium as it pertains to how they’ll do going forward?

Do we measure it by the final score?

Patriots 35, Giants 14 seemed about right considering New England was favored by 16 ½ points and the Giants were without virtually all of their skill position starters surrounding rookie quarterback Daniel Jones.

Or do we measure it by the fact it was a 14-14 game late in the first half and 21-14 New England midway through the third quarter before the Patriots began to pull away?

Inside the losing locker room Thursday night, there was a distinct sense from a number of Giants players that they proved something by hanging tough with the defending Super Bowl champions, that the performance proved they’re a good team.

Their defense, indeed, played well, disrupting Tom Brady, who was sacked three times and intercepted once, and generally preventing him from finding a rhythm for most of the night.

But it was self-inflicted wounds on offense that prevented the Giants from pulling off the upset. The Giants, without running backs Saquon Barkley (ankle) and Wayne Gallman (concussion), receiver Sterling Shepard (concussion) and tight end Evan Engram (knee), delivered a putrid performance that included four turnovers, only 213 yards of offense, converting just two of 10 third downs and 20:24 in time of possession.

Still, Jones, the rookie quarterback who threw three interceptions, said on Friday that “maybe other people were surprised’’ the Giants kept the game competitive against the defending Super Bowl champions, who happen to have the No. 1 ranked defense in the league, “but I don’t think we were.’’

“We came into the game expecting to win the game,’’ Jones said. “We expected to be in the game. We expected to win the game. Obviously, we’re disappointed, but there are things to learn from it. We have a good football team.’’

Center Jon Halapio was one player who strongly felt Thursday night showed the Giants something about themselves — even in losing.

“We’re a good team,’’ Halapio said. “That’s one thing I took away from this game, that we’re a good team, and we fought a good team. I thought we showed a lot of fight. We didn’t fold. We just kept fighting. We came into this game confident that we can beat them.’’

The only way to truly know whether what the Giants took out of Thursday night will benefit them in the long run is to see how they perform a week from Sunday when they play their next game, at home against the Cardinals.

A loss to Arizona would drop the Giants to 2-5 and not only severely damage any hopes for a playoff run they might have, but it also would show that the semi-strong, three-quarter showing in New England meant nothing, and that those words of encouragement inside the locker room Thursday night were empty and merely hopeful.

Nevertheless, there are reasons to believe the Giants are not a bad team, particularly as they get their star players back, beginning with Barkley, their best player.

“Relative to winning and losing, certainly there are no moral victories,’’ Shurmur said. “Playing hard and coaching hard, that’s part of our job description. We didn’t make enough plays [and] we made too many mistakes to win a football game. That’s what I take from it.’’

Friday was a day for reflection and recovery from the short week and the players will have the weekend to themselves before returning to practice Monday to prepare for Arizona.

“Today is like a Monday in our world — I call it ‘settling all debts,’’’ Shurmur said. “We have to make the corrections and move forward. Then, of course, they’ll get the couple of days [off] here. Then we’ll get at it.’’

And only then, when the Giants return to the field against the Cardinals, will we know what [if anything] Thursday night did for them, whether it made them stronger and boosted their belief or if it merely was a mirage.

That’ll be the measuring stick.