There were so many moments in the past five years when the Giants seemed so far away from where the franchise wanted and needed to be. So very far away from respectability and nowhere close to gaining admission to where the best teams reside. 

“The low point?’’ safety Julian Love, finishing up his fourth season with the Giants, said Sunday. “I mean, we won four games two of my seasons here. That’s tough. In this city that’s extremely tough and it’s not for the mentally weak. Going to work, you’re not excited when you’re losing that much.’’ 

And now? 

“I’ve been excited to go to work this year,’’ Love said. 

All that excitement came crashing through on an unseasonably warm and uncommonly festive afternoon. All that bad football and all the losing is resigned to history. The present is where it is at and the Giants on New Year’s Day wowed their home crowd with a display of domination rarely seen at MetLife Stadium. They clinched their first playoff berth in six years with a 38-10 rout of the sad-sack Colts, riding a tour de force outing from quarterback Daniel Jones. 

“So we’re in the playoffs, right?’’ first-year head coach Brian Daboll said, smiling. “It feels good.’’ 

Daboll was freshly showered from what he described as the “sticky and wet’’ aftereffects of the Gatorade shower, courtesy of defensive end Jihad Ward and Julian Love, bestowed upon him as the final seconds ticked away on the Giants’ most lopsided victory of the season. 

The Giants (9-6-1) are in the postseason — for the first time since 2016 — locked into the No. 6 seed in the NFC and will play on the road in the wild-card round of the playoffs, most likely against the 49ers or Vikings. This is heady stuff for the first-year regime of general manager Joe Schoen and Daboll, imports from the Buffalo Bills who have sprinkled the Giants with a winning formula. 

“Let’s be honest, no one besides the men and women in that facility gave us a chance of accomplishing this,’’ Saquon Barkley said. “You want to make it to the playoffs but it’s not like making the playoffs and now you won the Super Bowl.’’ 

No, it’s not like that. But it is a significant leap forward. 

“You work with these guys every day,’’ Daboll said. “A lot of them are my kids’ ages. Some of them have had some challenging times here. So, I’m extremely happy for the players, first and foremost, but the staff, trainers, ownership, coaches. Our goal — it’ll never be just to make the playoffs. That’ll never be just our goal.’’ 

Jones was magnificent, running and throwing his team forward. The defense feasted on Nick Foles and a suspect Colts defense, with Landon Collins making his first huge impact play since re-signing with the team that took him in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft, stepping in front of a Foles pass on the left sideline for an interception and sprinting 52 yards for a touchdown that put the Giants in cruise control with a 21-3 lead late in the second quarter. Foles late in the second quarter was knocked out of the game by a vicious hit and sack by rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux. 

Jones accounted for four touchdowns, passing to Richie James and Isaiah Hodgins and running for two more. He completed 19 of 24 passes for 177 yards and rushed 11 times for 91 yards, repeatedly befuddling the Colts and beating them to the edge with designed scrambles. Jones was taken out with 7:33 remaining to chants of “Daniel Jones … Daniel Jones.’’ With each passing game, it is growing apparent Jones, set to become a free agent, will be the Giants’ quarterback in 2023. 

“I’m really appreciative, grateful,’’ Jones said of the curtain call, adding “It beats the alternative, for sure. Really appreciative of the fans and their support of us.’’ 

Jones’ 18-yard touchdown run in the third quarter put the Giants ahead 31-3 and ended an incredible streak of offensive non-productivity. This was the conclusion of a stretch of 43 consecutive games without the Giants scoring 30 points in a game. 

The Giants close out their regular season with a Week 18 game against the Eagles in Philadelphia, a game that holds no tangible meaning to the Giants, opening up the possibility that Daboll opts to rest certain players for the playoffs. 

Jones certainly could use a break. He was too quick for the Colts but he did take some shots. Jones on one scramble was knocked on the helmet by an errant elbow from linebacker Bobby Okereke, who was hit with a personal foul. Jones was unfazed. 

“That’s a bad man right there,’’ right guard Nick Gates said. “I always tell him that every day. Be you and be a bad man. I love that man. I’ll go to battle for that man any day, I’ll take a bullet for that man.’’ 

Daboll told Jones to bring the team together in the jubilant postgame locker room. Love and Jones are 2019 draft classmates and Love had a suggestion to offer: “I was like ‘C’mon, just say it,’ ’’ Love said. “I remember when I was a rookie Eli [Manning] doing it.’’ 

Love told Jones to announce that the players would be off on Monday ahead of their usual off-day on Tuesday. 

“So he basically gave it to everybody without talking to me,’’ Daboll said, laughing. “So, I said, ‘Turn the music back down. OK, we’ll go with what Daniel said.’ ’’