The first rays of sunshine are beginning to peek through the dark cloud that has hovered for too long over the Giants as a young football team learns how to win with its precocious rookie quarterback Daniel Jones.

The going gets tougher against the Vikings at home Sunday and the Patriots on the road a week from Thursday night, so the tougher will need to get going for the outside world to believe the Giants can somehow give their deserving fans a season in the midst of a rebuild that will depend on a host of rookies and second-year players growing up quickly before their eyes.

“We’re gonna keep fighting, we’re gonna be resilient, and we’re gonna scrap, but it’s more like showing the outside world that we’re here for real,” outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter told The Post.

“We’re a team for real, and we’re gonna compete, with anybody.”

Jones is 2-0 as a starter, even without Saquon Barkley for the past six quarters. Golden Tate will return from his four-game suspension to play the Vikings this week, and Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins won’t scare anybody anytime soon, especially not a defense that has stepped up to play lights-out over the past six quarters.

Give us a season.

Give your fans a season.

“That was probably my favorite thing about yesterday [Sunday],” Evan Engram told The Post. “Seeing them in the stands, seeing them cheering and being loud all game … we could feel them enjoying and sensing that this team has turned things around, and looking forward to giving them more performances like that.”

The fallout from a sprouting mushroom cloud of confidence can carry Any Given NFL Team to heights it did not know it could reach and no one expected it to reach.

“You find a way to win one, and you know that you can do it,” Sterling Shepard said.

There was the thought that Eli Manning needed to avoid a 1-3 start to keep Jones off the field. He never made it that far. Pat Shurmur promised that Jones would be ready to play when he got his opportunity, and the coach was right.

“I’m really, really pleased at how we stand against adversity,” Engram said. “There’s a low sense of complacency. Everybody knows we can be better.”

The question is how much better can they get, and how quickly?

“The mindset everybody has right now is what I saw in college,” defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, who played at Alabama, said. “Everybody’s hungry. We’re starving to go out there and produce, and do better and better each week in and week out and just keep improving.”

I have maintained that the Giants are a year away.

“There’s been young teams in the league that have done good things,” Carter said. “Age isn’t a limitation, isn’t an excuse, so we don’t want to use that as an excuse, saying, ‘Oh, we’re young this year, give us some time.’ Nah, we’re football players. We’re out here, we’re pros. You get to this level, you’re expected to perform.”

The Shurmur Giants have adopted a Belichickian ignore-the-noise focus.

“We’re tuning out everything that doesn’t have to do with us, that isn’t in this building,” Carter said.

Jones, this generation’s Eli Manning, is very much in the building.

“He is beyond his years,” Carter said. “His skill is crafty. He’s very refined to be a rookie.”



Tate has noticed from afar how seamlessly Jones has handled the moment.

“Had two picks, two drives in a row, didn’t waver, didn’t seem or look frustrated — he probably was, but you couldn’t tell,” Engram said.

Jones’ mobility has opened up the playbook for Shurmur.

“The one thing about this team is I think we have a bunch of tough guys that are willing to work,” Shurmur said. “If you’re willing to do that, then we have a chance to improve. … I think this group has shown me that they’re capable of winning, and they’re willing to work.”

Give us a season.

Give Giants fans a season.