It can take a football team too long to forge and find its identity, and a season can be left in ruins until it does.

The Giants needed to make a statement on Monday night about who they are and what they can be, before the What-Have-You-Done-For-Us-Lately? police arrested them for impersonating a playoff team.

Here was their statement:

We are no playoff team.

Not today. Maybe not tomorrow either.

We are sad sacks.

The Giants, abominable 24-3 losers to the Seahawks, are already knocking on death’s door.

What looks like the proverbial nail in the Big Blue coffin — with road games against the Dolphins and Bills and a 1-5 start looking inevitable — was Daniel Jones, under siege or running for his life all night and lucky his head wasn’t detached from his body, delivering not a $40 million throw, but a 40-cent throw intended for Parris Campbell that resulted in a 97-yard pick-six for rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Seahawks 21, Giants 3.

“Obviously a terrible decision. I can’t afford to do that,” Jones said.

Brian Daboll had eschewed a chippie Graham Gano field goal on fourth-and-1 at the Seattle 16, and Jones’ 10-yard run around right end positioned them second-and-goal at the 5.

Campbell went inside and Jones’ 40-cent throw went outside and it was game over. And if you are a Giants fan, you are hard-pressed today not to think it is season over. Because, let’s face it, the Giants aren’t winning the NFC East, and the Seahawks own any farfetched wild-card berth head-to-head matchup.

A second interception came later.

Jones was sacked 10 (!) times, Campbell once.

“The fans deserve WAY better,” Darren Waller said.

Daniel Jones deserves WAY better as well. The offense is broken. And if this continues, the $40M quarterback will be broken.

“It was unacceptable and I let the team down,” Jones said.

He is too big of a man to moan that the team let him down.

“I gotta do a better job of trying to help him,” Daboll said.

The reigning Coach of the Year has a crisis on his hands. Something is missing. A swagger is missing. An offense is missing. Waller (3-21) is missing. A No. 1 receiver is still missing. Discipline on the field is missing.

But more than anything, an offensive line is missing, and because an offensive line is missing, a $40M quarterback is missing.

Neither Jones nor Daboll nor offensive coordinator Mike Kafka have shown that they can overcome this ruptured Achilles’ heel.

The play-calling looked prehistoric, a dink here, a dink there, everywhere a dink dink. A 3-yard pass on second-and-18 to Jalin Hyatt instead of a single deep shot to the blazing rookie or to anyone else for that matter. Where’s Waldo? No, where’s Waller?

“As a playmaker,” Waller said, “it’s tough to swallow.”

The boo birds deserve better than a miscommunicated handoff to Matt Breida on third-and-11 from the NYG 24 towards the end of the first half.

“I’d be upset too if I was a fan,” Daboll said.

The 2023 Giants in two games at MetLife Stadium: Opponents 64, Giants 3.

The offense resembles a tractor in mud, or a snail attempting to climb Mount Everest, its $40M quarterback held hostage to the dysfunction all around him.

“I gotta do a better job getting through my reads, getting the ball out of my hand and making quick decisions,” Jones said.

He would probably give his $40M to find offensive linemen that would enable him to function the way he is expected to function. With Saquon Barkley inactive, Jones (66 yards) was the Giants’ leading rusher.

“I think we’re all frustrated,” Jones said. “I know I gotta play better, and I’m gonna work as hard as I possibly can to do that.”

LT Andrew Thomas (hamstring) is indispensable, but this is ridiculous. And inexcusable.

“We’re a lot better than what we’ve shown,” Evan Neal said.

The Giants brought in Beef Bros. Mark Glowinski and Shane Lemieux for an early fourth-and-1 tush push from Jones from the Seattle 27 but would have been better off renting the Eagles’ offensive line. Stuffed.

Rookie center John Michael Schmitz (shoulder) had to be replaced by Ben Bredeson, but we aren’t talking about Jason Kelce here (or Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, OK)?

It is painful to watch.

“I don’t ever take the field expecting to put a performance like that on display,” Waller said.

It was still only Seahawks 7, Giants 3 when Geno Smith (knee) had been replaced by Drew Lock. The Giants’ defense had been ornery. Kayvon Thibodeaux recorded the first of his two sacks and nearly intercepted a pass intended for rookie WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

But here Lock found TE Noah Fant by the right sideline, and Fant shed Bobby Okereke and Adoree’ Jackson and stayed inbounds before Isaiah Simmons tackled him at the 1 prior to a Kenneth Walker III TD plunge. Those tackling drills in practice apparently didn’t help much.

“Every year’s different,” Daboll said.

Adversity smacked the 2022 Giants in the mouth, but it only interrupted their sweet, innocent climb back from Rock Bottom to the playoffs.

“Crash landing here,” Daboll said after the Eagles playoff humiliation. His 2023 Giants are burning.