It is mid-December, the temperature is dropping, the race is heating up and it is the point in the season when time is short and the chase is on.

This, of course, has nothing to do with jockeying for position within the division or the conference or analyzing the playoff picture because that ship sailed on the Giants well before Halloween. The battle is real, though, when it comes to gaining the highest possible pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and at the moment, the Giants are winning for losing.

At present, they own the No. 2 selection, sitting behind the winless Browns and just ahead of the Colts. The Giants (2-12) are in the driver’s seat here, one game ahead of the Colts (3-11), with the previously moribund 49ers (4-10) out of contention now that quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has come onto the scene. The Bears (4-10) also are too good to be the worst.

The Giants at No. 2 can sit back and watch the Browns take whichever quarterback they want and simply take the other one, be it Josh Rosen of UCLA or Sam Darnold of USC. Or there is another scenario that could be fascinating but also daring.

What happens if the Eli Manning everyone saw slinging it 57 times in a tight 34-29 loss to the Eagles, the best team in the NFC, is once again starting at quarterback for the Giants in 2018? He gets to throw to a fully healed and raring to go Odell Beckham Jr. He gets to throw to Sterling Shepard, one of the most feared slot receivers in the league. He can toss it to Evan Engram, already one of the NFL’s top pass-catching tight ends. And when a handoff is required, Manning puts the ball in the gut of rookie Saquon Barkley, who dances and prances with it as he makes defenders miss, just as he did at Penn State. When Barkley needs a rest, bigger Wayne Gallman pounds up a defense Barkley already has tenderized.

To address the shaky offensive line, Nate Solder can be signed in free agency to start at left tackle, moving improving (ever so slowly) Ereck Flowers to right tackle, where he should have been all along. If Solder is good enough to protect 40-year old Tom Brady, he can protect 37-year old Eli Manning. Justin Pugh can be re-signed to play left guard and Brett Jones can be re-signed to play center. With the extra second-round pick the Giants would acquire trading down from No. 2, they would be in position to select the best guard in college football to start immediately at right guard.

Manning is backed up by Davis Webb, who bides his time, knowing the organization likes him and wants him to be Manning’s successor, possibly as early as 2019.

Manning got his pitch count up pretty good, attempting 57 passes against the Eagles, amassing 434 passing yards and three touchdowns. He said Monday his arm “feels fine” and jokingly dismissed any arm fatigue.

“Feels good as new,’’ he said, smiling.

Is this an offensive plan that could lead the Giants out of their current abyss and back into the playoffs?

There are two drastically different routes for the Giants to decide upon. There will be a new general manager, a new head coach and most likely an entirely new coaching staff. In keeping with that theme, it could be time for a new quarterback, part of the “wholesale changes” Mara only a few weeks ago stressed as required — even though Mara also has said he wants Manning back in 2018. The Giants could look at the No. 2 pick in the draft as an unnatural place to be and accept this unforeseen gift as a sign they need to move on and take Rosen or Darnold and hope he is their next Eli Manning.

Or they could trade out of the No. 2 pick — there will be plenty of takers, with teams scrambling for a quarterback — and attempt to solve several problems with the extra picks they receive. There is not a franchise left tackle in this draft, certainly none worth the No. 2 pick, but Barkley could be make an Ezekiel Elliott-type impact (on the field) in the NFL.

Sticking with or moving on from Manning is the fulcrum on which everything pivots. The Giants messed up everything thus far to get to 2-12. They cannot mess up the rebuild.

More musings after the Giants lost their fourth consecutive game and look forward to ending this season:

— Why can’t the Giants carry out their intentions? They botched the Manning benching deal, and they cannot seem to do what they say they want to do. On Friday, interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo agreed with the idea that there is motivation to see some of the younger defensive ends on the field and give the overworked starters, Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon, some extra breaks in the final three games of the season.

“Yeah, we are going to try to do that,’’ Spagnuolo said. “We are going to try to get that done.’’

So what happens? Against the Eagles, Vernon plays 65 of the 68 defensive snaps and JPP plays 64. Kerry Wynn gets four snaps and rookie Avery Moss gets three. Spagnuolo is also the defensive coordinator, so he is in charge of who gets in the game. Perhaps the fact that there were only 68 defensive snaps and the Giants offense kept the ball long enough to provide rest for the defense played a part in keeping Vernon and Pierre-Paul in the game. That the score was close and the game was not decided until the final seconds no doubt was a factor.

It is no big deal, but it is another example of the Giants saying one thing and doing another. At least Vernon had one of his best games all season, with one sack and five quarterback hits.

— Here is one nod to youth that is working out. For the second consecutive game, Gallman received the bulk of the workload at running back. He unquestionably gets to the hole quicker than any other ball-carrier on the roster and is decisive with his cuts. He ran for 39 yards on eight rushing attempts and caught all six of the seven passes thrown his way, for 40 yards. Gallman has forced more missed tackles (19) than any other running back on the team, according to Pro Football Focus, and he has done so in 50 fewer touches than Orleans Darkwa (16 forced missed tackles). Gallman has a chance to be part of a 1-2 punch at running back next season.

— The Giants headed into this season thrilled Darian Thompson was healthy, after he played in two games as a rookie. The feeling was Thompson and Landon Collins would line up as the two safeties for years to come, Collins providing the hard-hitting star power, Thompson providing the gliding deep coverage and knack for interceptions with his ball-hawking.

The good news is Thompson got past his foot surgery and stayed healthy, starting all 14 games, rarely coming off the field. The bad news is he has not lived up to the billing, and his future as a starter must be questioned. He has missed a team-high 13 tackles this season, and PFF ranks him 65th out of 68 safeties in the NFL in tackle rate. He had a dismal game against the Eagles, completely whiffing on tight end Zach Ertz near the sideline on a third-and-9 pass completion that should have been stopped short of a first down but instead went for 15 yards, setting up a key field goal to push the Eagles’ lead to 34-29. Thompson also failed to pick up a looping rusher and was at fault for the second-quarter blocked punt.

— Weston Richburg started 47 of the 48 games his first three years with the Giants, and it seemed to be a foregone conclusion he would earn a second contract and be the starting center for a decade. As a second-round pick in 2014, that was the expectation. Now it looks as if that is not going to happen. Richburg was not playing well before landing on injured reserve, having played in only four games before entering the concussion protocol. Jones filled in, and the performance at center has been an upgrade. He manages to use his undersized physique as an advantage, getting lower in leverage to hold defensive tackles at bay. He is not a dominant player, but he is consistent and exceedingly smart.

As a pass blocker, PFF ranks Jones second among all NFL centers, allowing only seven pressures in 410 pass-blocking snaps. Jones is set to become a restricted free agent, Richburg will be an unrestricted free agent. The general manager (Jerry Reese) who drafted Richburg is gone. It is certainly possible Jones is in the Giants’ future plans, and Richburg is not.