Last week, we projected what might happen with the Giants and some of their 2023 schedule details.

Some of those projections were on the money. Some of the twists and turns could not have been anticipated, though.

To wit: Seven of their first 11 games on the road? Where the heck did that come from?

It is not particularly accurate to even refer to this as a stretch early in the season. Anything that lasts more than half the season is not a stretch, it is an enduring reality.

This span covers more than half the season for the Giants, and it is quite a gauntlet for them to stave off homesickness as long as possible.

Playing consecutive weeks on the road is a challenge. The Giants have two back-to-back road swings — before Thanksgiving.

And then they have a three-game road swing. Three consecutive road games is about as daunting as it gets.

The Giants do not play a Sunday 1 p.m. game at Metlife Stadium until Oct. 22, which is Week 7.

Is this reason for Giants fans to fret? Sure, if you want to.

Winning on the road is exceedingly difficult, but it’s not impossible. In 2022, the Giants were 4-4 in scheduled road games, and some of their most impressive work came away from home: in Nashville in the season opener, in London versus Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, in Jacksonville against an improving Jaguars team.

Lest we forget, the Giants went into a hostile environment in the playoffs and eliminated the Vikings on their own turf.

This season will be the second year for Daniel Jones in the Brian Daboll offense, working with play-caller Mike Kafka. This will be the second year for the defensive players operating in Wink Martindale’s aggressive, blitzing scheme, and as a result, they should be more cohesive in their movements and decision-making.

After one year together with the core of the team intact and on the same page with the coaching staff, the Giants should be better-prepared for success on the road early in the 2023 season. Perhaps this clears a few of the on-the-road-again obstacles out of the way.

Daboll is expected to take advantage of the NFL granting the Giants’ request to schedule two of their three games out west in consecutive weeks. Expect the Giants to stay in the Phoenix area for the few days between the Week 2 Sunday game in Arizona against the Cardinals and the Week 3 Thursday night game in Santa Clara, Calif., against the 49ers.

There is a flip side of this road binge for the Giants: If they can navigate through it without too much hardship, they could reap the rewards of life at home in the second half.

After Nov. 19, the Giants will play on the road just twice in their final six games and also have a chance to catch their collective breaths with a Week 13 bye. The Giants are one of four teams that get to play at home in their final two regular-season games.

One more point about the back-to-back road games early in the season: The Giants actually asked for this because they try to avoid playing at home on the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, if at all possible, to accommodate their Jewish fans who, in accordance with observance of the holiday, would not be able to attend the games.

Last year, the NFL dropped the ball on this and scheduled the Giants for a “Monday Night Football’’ home game on the first night of Rosh Hashanah. This year, the league did right by the Giants, putting them on the road for Rosh Hashanah and having them off (because of the Thursday night game on the road against the 49ers) the weekend of Sept. 23-24 when Yom Kippur is observed.

The schedule-makers are far more bullish on the Giants this season — as evidenced by giving them five primetime games — than they were at this time a year ago, when Daboll was a first-time head coach taking over a roster most talent evaluators deemed to be one of the weakest in the league.

In 2022, the Giants were scheduled for only one primetime game. They initially were scheduled for one other nationally televised game: a Thanksgiving afternoon game against the Cowboys.

There is a caveat to this year’s primetime love, though. The NFL is all-in on the Giants — but only early in the season. Four of their five primetime games come in the first six weeks.

There are two games on Sunday night, one on Monday night and one on Thursday night. By mid-October, the Giants are done with primetime, other than a Week 14 game against the Packers on “Monday Night Football.’’

Games in the second half of the season can be flexed in and out of primetime, but it is clear the schedule-makers thought it wise to load up on the Giants early, in case they are not worthy of primetime action later on.

Want to catch a game? The Giants schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

There was a time when determining the popularity of professional athletes centered on how much money they made in endorsements and how many fans purchased replicas of their jersey.

Social media in many ways has usurped this evaluation process. It is now all about how many followers an athlete has and on which platforms.

It should not be lost on the power brokers who run the Giants that Saquon Barkley, the player they are playing hardball with on a contract extension, is far and away their leading social-media presence.

Barkley leads the Giants with slightly more than 2.5 million followers on Instagram. The runaway NFL leader is Odell Beckham Jr. with more than 17 million followers on Instagram, according to the sports betting site BookMakers, which charted each team’s biggest social media influencer.

Beckham gained more than 80,000 followers in the days after he signed with the Ravens, proving once again he is an attraction off the field as he attempts to make noise again on the field. Beckham’s following dwarfs the field — quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes (5.6 million followers) and Russell Wilson (5.5 million) are in second and third place, respectively.

There are no challengers among the Giants to Barkley’s Instagram throne, in large part because his quarterback treats social media as if it were a cornerback blanketing his target.

Jones tries to avoid social media as much as possible. He has a modest 260,000 followers on Instagram, and he has posted a grand total of six times. There are five pictures posted on the account: a shot of Jones and Roger Goodell on the day Jones was drafted by the Giants; a shot of Jones and Eli Manning smiling while sitting at their lockers; a picture of Jones in a red jersey at practice; a shot of Jones getting ready to throw a pass at the NFL scouting combine; and a black-and-whie shot of Jones in a mud-stained Duke uniform. The sixth post is a message from Jones supporting the Black Lives Matter movement to end systemic racism.

The other quarterback in town, Aaron Rodgers, had 2.1 million followers on Instagram when he was traded to the Jets. It figures his social media footprint will increase now that he has swapped Green Bay for the New York/New Jersey area and interest grows in this next chapter of his football life.

Here are two questions that have come up recently that we will attempt to answer as accurately as possible:

We noticed a few of the draft picks did not seem excited about holding up the jersey they were handed at their introductory press conference. Why was that?

Two of the players in particular seemed wary of the jersey number they were assigned: Wide receiver Jalin Hyatt was given No. 84 and center John Michael Schmitz was given No. 61, though these are not the players’ preferred numbers.

Hyatt wore No. 11 at Tennessee, but he will not be able to wear that with the Giants because No. 11 is retired in honor of Phil Simms. It is en vogue for receivers to don single-digit numbers, but not many of them are available around the Giants. Nos. 1, 4 and 7 are retired. Newly signed veteran receiver Parris Campbell was given No. 0, backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor has No. 2, receiver Sterling Shepard wears No. 3, punter Jamie Gillan has No. 6, quarterback Daniel Jones wears No. 8 and kicker Graham Gano has No. 9.

Schmitz wore No. 60 in college at Minnesota, and was given No. 61, the closest available jersey. No. 60 currently is assigned to second-year offensive lineman Marcus McKethan, who spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve. Perhaps Schmitz can make a deal with McKethan for No. 60.

Do any draft picks hold out anymore?

Not many. The NFL instituted a rookie wage scale in 2011, effectively eliminating heavy-duty negotiations. Draft picks’ rookie contracts are now slotted in based on where they were selected in what round.

This change in the Collective Bargaining Agreement was sparked by quarterback Sam Bradford, the first pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Bradford signed a six-year deal worth $78 million, significantly higher than most veteran starters at his position. That led to all sorts of acrimony toward unproven rookies making more money than proven veterans.

Once in a while a player, usually a quarterback, tries to squeeze a few more bucks out of the team that selected him and beat the slot. As soon as the Giants selected Hyatt by trading up in the third round to the No. 73 overall spot, Hyatt was slotted in for a four-year deal worth $5.6 million. First-round pick Deonte Banks was slotted in for four years, $13.5 million, and Schmitz’s slot is for four years, $6.3 million.

When they officially sign is almost an afterthought. There is very little wiggle room in these slots for agents to maneuver around.