If it makes you feel better as a fan, focus on the positives the Giants were able to take from Thursday night’s 20-15 loss to the Cowboys.

If it helps you sleep better as a fan, sure. Write sonnets about Daniel Jones’ most effective 29-for-40 night (who looked a lot better before failing on his last five attempts). Sing praises about the defense keeping Dallas out of the end zone in the second half. Praise an offensive line that played with competence for the third straight week, a few stories north of what we’ve seen from them in recent years.

Knock yourself out.

Or you can do what the Giants could have done better this morning, and in the days leading up to next Sunday’s game in Seattle. Because make no mistake: this was a winnable match. Forget what the oddsmakers said. The Cowboys came to MetLife Stadium injured and vulnerable.

They were trashed by the Saints and outclassed by the Ravens, both games at home in front of fans ready to grab torches and pitchforks, and an owner with an itchy trigger finger, Bill Belichick on speed dial. They couldn’t stop the run, and in fact for the past two weeks it seemed like they were playing flag football while the other side ran the ball.

Or touch with both hands.

So the Giants, whose running game looked so promising last week in Cleveland, would run the ball down the Cowboys’ throat. They would punch them in the mouth and keep the Dallas defense on the field, bleeding the clock and getting to 2-2 on the season.

The Giants ran the ball well. Twenty-four times.

They gained 26 meters.

If you don’t have a calculator handy, let me help you: That’s an average of 1.08 yards per carry.

Stunning news: They didn’t score a touchdown. Even more stunning is that it’s not 2-2.

They also couldn’t keep their guns around a Cowboys offense that looked shaky on five plays against New Orleans and Baltimore. Dak Prescott was great: 22 of 27 for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Aubrey had his weekly 60-yard field goal (though he stunned the entire stadium by missing a 51-yard one late that kept the staunchest faithful in their seats a few minutes longer).

“The outcome is bad,” said Giants coach Brian Daboll, “but there was improvement again. Last week we got the result we wanted (a 21-15 win against the Browns). We didn’t do that this week. We played the game the way we should play it.”

He is not wrong in that. But if the Giants really want to be judged by their record and not judged on a curve — as they insist on a weekly basis — then this was as big a buzzkill as you can have in the fourth week of a football season.

There was momentum behind the Browns’ win last week, and there was widespread belief that they would catch the Cowboys at the perfect time to end a six-game losing streak and a thirteen-loss streak in fourteen competitions. And lo and behold, they held the ball for 35 of the 60 minutes. Jones played so well that his coach was practically thrilled with the way he played. There were beautiful things on the field on Thursday evening.

But the scoreboard outpaced the field.

The scoreboard read Cowboys 20, Giants 15.

Make it seven in a row.

Make it 14 out of 15.

Make it 1-3.

“Give them a lot of credit, that’s a tough call,” Daboll said. “But we have to do better than that.”

Football season is a crazy rollercoaster. A week ago today, many Giants fans were especially looking forward to the draft. Then on Sunday in Cleveland they looked as good as they have in years. Suddenly those same fans could talk themselves out of the 2-2 scoreline, and what that could mean for the rest of the season.

Now?

Now it’s 1-3. Now they’re staring at a four-week stretch that looks like this: Seattle, Cincinnati and Philadelphia at home, Pittsburgh. If you’re not careful, a season can quickly pass you by.

The way the Giants played in Cleveland last week put an end to such talk, but it was only a brief reprieve. The Cowboys were begging to be eliminated last night, with the game scheduled to be played over all 60 minutes. For all good things, that’s the biggest takeaway. As Daboll said, the outcome stinks. Even if the team didn’t.

And 1-3 is 1-3.