Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but another Giants season is teetering on the verge of irrelevancy. This team hit the rock bottom of rock bottoms last Sunday in an embarrassing 28-3 loss to the Eagles. The offense couldn’t produce a play longer than 14 yards. Daniel Jones was outright benched for poor performance for the first time in his six years as Giants quarterback. And the defense was not much better, allowing 269 rushing yards for the first time in nearly a decade. There is no logical reason to believe right now that this 2-5 team will go into Pittsburgh on Monday night and knock off the 5-2 Steelers. Then again, by far the Giants’ two best performances have come on the road and they would likely be 3-0 away from MetLife Stadium if not for the ultra-rare occurrence of losing a kicker to injury in Week 2 in Washington. So if you’re an eternal optimist, belief must come from the Giants’ inexplicable road mojo. And they’re going to need to conjure up a whole lot more magic to beat the Steelers and keep the fans engaged past Halloween. “I wouldn’t speak for everybody else, but for me it’s like a ‘(screw) it’ attitude,” outside linebacker Brian Burns said this week. “You’re going into a hostile environment. Pretty much we’re all we got, whoever came off that plane. So that’s kind of my attitude going into it. I kind of like to hear the (trash) talking and stuff from the fans.” Credit to Burns for the honest answer, because if you ask many other people around the Giants about the disparity in their performances at home and on the road, you’ll get a stock response about how it’s simply a coincidence. Week-to-week matchups matter in the NFL, of course. But it’s not like the Giants have faced world beaters at home. The Bengals and Eagles were both reeling on their way into the Meadowlands, and yet the offense mustered only one touchdown in both games combined. It’s time for the Giants to get back to the rhythm they had in Seattle three weeks ago, when they racked up 420 yards including 175 on the ground with tough runs by Jones and a few explosive passes. Still: It’s impossible to ignore that Pittsburgh features the league’s second-ranked scoring defense (14.4 points per game) and is tied for third-most takeaways (13). “They have T.J. Watt on the outside; he’s going to wreak havoc,” rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers said when assessing the Steelers’ defense. “They’ve got some good corners, long corners. They have a good guy in the secondary at the top, safety. They’ve got a lot of guys on their defense.” It doesn’t help that the Giants are banged up at right tackle, where Watt almost exclusively lines across from as a pass rusher. They also had major issues at left tackle last Sunday after losing Andrew Thomas to a season-ending foot injury, but it appears the plan remains to stay the course with Josh Ezeudu, who trained as the backup there all offseason. Jones said the Giants are mostly focusing on performing better as a group rather than becoming too bogged down with the Steelers’ personnel. That makes sense with how many fundamental problems the offense has had against a wide range of competition. The reality is the Giants haven’t been nearly good enough on third down (11th-worst conversation rate), in the red zone (fourth-worst touchdown rate) and in creating big passing plays (fourth-fewest 20-plus yard passes). Pittsburgh’s defense been more vulnerable through the air (20th-fewest yards allowed per pass attempt) than on the ground (second-fewest yards allowed per rush). But the Giants have to try to establish the run more than when they doled out only three carries to their running backs in the first half against the Eagles, and then scheme enough big passing plays for timely scores. Methodical, long drives won’t work against a team that thrives on creating turnovers and is fourth in red-zone defense. Ultimately, the Giants’ best path to victory will be a low-scoring game like when the Cowboys handed the Steelers their only home loss three weeks ago, 20-17. A bounce-back game for the Giants’ defense is quite possible. It certainly won’t be easy, though. The Steelers are averaging the seventh-fewest yards per rush (4.0) but also averaged 9.1 yards per pass attempt after turning to Russell Wilson at quarterback last week against the Jets compared to 6.9 with Justin Fields from Weeks 1-6. If we’ve learned anything about the 2024 Giants so far, it’s that they find a way to surprise you when you’re ready to count them out. Find a way to pull out a rare primetime win, and the narrative of this season — at least for the time being — will be spun on its head once again. “It just comes down to executing and staying on the field,” said Jones, who appears to have a tenuous hold on the starting quarterback job. “The Seattle game we sustained a long drive to start, didn’t get any points. But executed well, kept it going, mixed it well in what we’re doing. We haven’t done that as well the past couple of games. So, we got to do that. It’s on us to execute and move the ball.” Giants Gameday The Game: Giants (2-5) at Steelers (5-2), Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pa., Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN) The Line: The Giants lead the all-time series dating back to 1933, 44-31-3, but have lost three in a row since their last win in 2008. Key Matchups: Giants RT Jermaine Eluemunor vs. Steelers OLB T.J. Watt: One of the biggest game-wreckers in the league, Watt will be a mismatch for whoever faces him off the right edge. The one-time Defensive Player of the Year has 4.5 sacks and three forced fumbles. Eluemunor is questionable to play. The Giants are in a world of trouble if he cannot go. Giants WR Malik Nabers vs. Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr.: Nabers lamented that he was “open” throughout the loss to the Eagles despite recording only four catches for 41 yards. The rookie now faces one of the league’s top corners in Jackson, who has one interception and three passes defended this season. He was voted fifth for Defensive Rookie of the Year last year. Giants CB Deonte Banks vs. Steelers WR George Pickens: Banks was called out last week for his abysmal tackling effort on a play against the Eagles. We’ll see how the Giants’ top corner responds as he likely travels with Pickens, who has almost twice as many targets as anyone on the Steelers (53 to tight end Pat Freiermuth’s 29) and is averaging 67.7 yards per game. But overall, Pittsburgh features a mediocre offense. Giants OLB Azeez Ojulari vs. Steelers RT Broderick Jones: The Giants need someone to step up on the defensive front alongside Dexter Lawrence for the defense to make this a competitive game. Ojulari has been an X-factor since filling in for Kayvon Thibodeaux as a starter with three sacks in the past two games. Jones was the Steelers’ first-round pick in 2023 and poses a solid challenge on what is mostly an average Steelers offensive line. Injury Report: Giants: OUT: P Jamie Gillan (left hamstring), CB Adoree’ Jackson (neck), LB Ty Summers (ankle); DOUBTFUL: CB Cor’Dale Flott (groin); QUESTIONABLE: RT Jermaine Eluemunor (hip), CB Tre Hawkins III (ankle). Steelers: OUT: WR Roman Wilson (hamstring), LB Tyler Matakevich (hamstring), LB Nick Herbig (hamstring), C Zach Frazier (ankle), OT Dylan Cook (foot); DOUBTFUL: RB/KR Cordarrelle Patterson (ankle). Giant Facts: The Giants are betting underdogs for the 23rd straight week, the NFL’s second-longest streak behind the Panthers. … The Giants’ 119 total yards last week were their fewest since the team had 107 in Week 1 of the 1999 season. … The Giants’ 269 rushing yards allowed last week were the most since the team yielded 350 in Week 10 of the 2014 season. The Prediction: Steelers 24, Giants 13