It’s time for Brian Daboll to use those “Coach of the Year” chops he fully earned in his first season with the Giants, and that doesn’t necessarily mean posting a second straight win this week out west.

Daboll said the right things and/or made the necessary adjustments with the Giants down 20-0 at halftime Sunday in Arizona, and the Giants more resembled last season’s playoff squad in rallying after intermission for a rousing win — albeit against an inferior opponent — than they had in being outscored 60-to-zip over their first six quarters this season.

Facing the loaded 49ers on a short work week Thursday night, however, already was going to be a tall order for the Giants.

And that was before they announced four injured starters — most notably, Saquon Barkley and Andrew Thomas — will be out of the lineup against possibly the best team in the NFL.

Barkley being ready to play four days after suffering a sprained ankle late in Sunday’s comeback win never felt like a reasonable or realistic goal.

The Pro Bowl running back will not be in uniform Thursday night against the Niners, and Daboll leaving open that possibility earlier in the week clearly was a combination of gamesmanship and a public show of support for the oft-injured Barkley, who will get 14 full days of recuperation time to possibly give it a go on Oct. 2 against the Seahawks at MetLife Stadium in another nationally televised primetime clash.

Bubble-wrapping Barkley this week was the right play all along. The more ominous Week 3 absences will be Thomas — officially out for a second straight game due to a hamstring issue — with another starter along the offensive line, Ben Bredeson (concussion protocol), also sidelined against Nick Bosa and the Niners’ vaunted defensive front.

After getting completely blown up by Micah Parsons and the Cowboys’ pass rush in Week 1, Daniel Jones could be running for his life again, regardless of how well he orchestrated the offense in the final two quarters against the Cardinals.

So while “next man up” always is the necessary parlance in these situations, this clearly isn’t a “damn the torpedoes” moment for Daboll and the Giants.

The first-half schedule doesn’t get any easier for the men in blue, and they won’t start the year 6-1 as they did a year ago, but somehow eking out a 2-2 record after the Seattle game might have to be viewed as a best-case scenario considering the clunkers they put on film against the Cowboys and before intermission against Josh Dobbs and the Cards.

Fill-in left tackle Josh Ezeudu graded out well in his first NFL start, but he will clearly have his hands full with Bosa, who will be hungry to record his first sack of the season after getting blanked in San Francisco’s road wins over the Steelers and the Rams.

The Niners’ defense also has allowed just 65 rushing yards per game through Week 2, tied for fourth-best in the league. Can veteran back Matt Breida, who played his first three NFL seasons on the other side of this matchup, Gary Brightwell or wild-card rookie Eric Gray make an impact behind a depleted O-line in Barkley’s absence?

To have any chance of stealing an upset win as 10.5-point road dogs, the Giants will need that to happen and for Jones — a former sixth overall pick — to outplay 49ers counterpart Brock Purdy, who has gone from Mr. Irrelevant in the 2022 draft (262nd overall) to a more-than-competent game manager within coach Kyle Shanahan’s offensive system.

Purdy hasn’t thrown an interception through two games, and Wink Martindale’s defensive unit hasn’t registered a pick or a sack in the team’s 1-1 start.

If Kayvon Thibodeaux truly wants to reverse those boos he’s complained about in recent days from Giants fans — never a winnable fight for any player in New York sports, IMO — wreck this game for Purdy with a dominant performance akin to what Parsons did to the Giants in the season opener.

Otherwise, it’s on to Week 4, when Daboll and the Giants will hope to get back a few important pieces with a chance to even their record against the Seahawks.

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Gerrit Cole has two or three starts remaining this season beginning Thursday night against the Blue Jays, and things would have to go horribly wrong in those outings by the Yankees ace for him to relinquish his hold on what would be the first Cy Young campaign of his MLB career.

That said, imagine if you were told this would be the case at the start of the season, and that the Yankees would be fighting to avoid their first last-place finish since 1990 in the final days of the regular season.

The $324 million righty has been superb throughout this otherwise dreadful year in The Bronx, leading the American League in ERA (2.84) and innings pitched (192) while ranking second in opponents’ batting average (.217) and third in WHIP (1.05) and strikeouts (208).

Cole’s closest competitor for the trophy figures to be surging Mariners ace Luis Castillo, who has won eight straight decisions while pitching in a pennant race in the AL West.

The former Red is 14-7 overall with a 3.06 ERA. He has similar numbers to Cole in innings (188 ⅓), strikeouts (207) and WHIP (1.05) while leading the AL in opponents’ batting average (.211).

Cole finished second to Astros teammate Justin Verlander in the 2019 Cy Young voting and second to Toronto’s Robbie Ray with the Yankees in 2021.

The six-time All-Star also placed in the top five with the Pirates in 2015 (fourth), with Houston in 2018 (fifth) and in his first season with the Yanks in 2020 (fourth).

The U.S. Women’s National Team will be back in action Thursday night (7:30 p.m., TNT) for the first time since its disappointing Round-of-16 ouster at the FIFA World Cup this summer.

The friendly against South Africa in Cincinnati will mark the USWNT’s first match under interim coach Twila Kilgore after Vlatko Andonovski resigned following the team’s early exit in Australia.

With the Olympics coming in 2024, that loss in penalty kicks to Sweden dropped the women to No. 3 in the world rankings, relinquishing the top spot they had maintained since 2017. It also dropped them out of the top two for the first time since the rankings began in 2003.

Thursday’s match also will represent the final appearance for Team USA for veteran defender/midfielder Julie Ertz.

Longtime teammate Megan Rapinoe — one of three players to miss their attempts in the PK shootout against Sweden — is slated for her final cap three days later Sunday in Chicago, also against South Africa.

The 38-year-old Rapinoe’s final professional game is scheduled for Oct. 15, though her OL Reign team could go on to the NWSL playoffs.