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The Giants beat the Cowboys for the first time in 10 tries.

And bested Dak Prescott for the first time in 15 tries.

And pieced together a winning streak for the first time in 755 days.

And gave cancer-stricken, winning-oriented owner John Mara a game ball in a feel-good locker room.

And still somehow angered their future-focused fans by falling to the No. 5 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and perhaps further bolstering the odds that embattled general manager Joe Schoen returns for a fifth season.

In a regular-season finale between two teams headed nowhere after Sunday, the Jaxson Dart-led Giants scored on five consecutive possessions and finished with a second straight victory by beating the Cowboys 34-17 at a desolate MetLife Stadium.

“I hate ’em,” receiver Darius Slayton said of the Cowboys. “I don’t care if it’s postseason, tiddlywinks in Florida, I want to beat ’em.”

Two weeks after they held the coveted No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, the Giants (4-13) probably are out of range to capitalize on a big haul of draft capital from a quarterback-needy team looking to trade up. A loss Sunday would’ve given the Giants the No. 1 pick in the draft following the Raiders win over the Chiefs.

But the Giants didn’t play or coach like a team invested in losing. Certainly not compared to the preseason-esque way that the Cowboys (7-9-1) managed the game.

“Winning is all that matters in the NFL,” right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said. “[Not] where you are drafting players or not playing your starters for different reasons or guys not playing because they are thinking about the future. To be able to go out there and beat the archnemesis Cowboys is huge.

“I’m sure there will be mixed reviews about that. People always talk about the ‘culture wins’ and all that crap over the last couple years, and not being able to draft certain players, but we got culture wins last year and we ended up with Dart and Abdul [Carter] — two of the best young players in the NFL. A win against the Cowboys for someone like Dart is huge.”

And for Mara, who was surrounded by dozens of family members in the celebratory locker room.

“He said he feels like he could jog to treatment now just because this is what brings his life, what motivates him and what fulfills him,” Bobby Okereke said. “For us to honor him in that way is very special.”

Dart threw two touchdown passes in his first career start against Prescott, who had a personal 14-game winning streak in the series dating to 2017. Prescott lost twice to the playoff-bound Giants as a rookie in 2016 and missed the game the last time that the Cowboys lost to their rivals in the 2020 season finale.

“It’s easy to roll over, but we finished strong,” said Dexter Lawrence, who is tied with Slayton for longest-tenured Giant (2019). “It feels good to beat them. It’s been a long time.”

How much did the streak mean to Prescott? Not enough to keep him on the field at the risk of injury for the second half.

Despite Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ claim that it was important to win and finish with a .500 record, head coach Brian Schottenheimer pulled Prescott for Joe Milton when they trailed 16-10 coming out of halftime.

Playing in front of a half-empty stadium for the final quarter, the Giants put the game on ice with Ben Saul’s fourth field goal to extend their 24-17 lead, followed by an Okereke interception and a Devin Singletary touchdown run.

Even that close-out was bittersweet for fans who were tortured this season by the five blown fourth-quarter leads and five blown double-digit leads that fed into a nine-game losing streak spanning the tenures of the fired Brian Daboll and interim replacement Mike Kafka.

“We can’t accept what happened this year to happen ever again,” Dart said.

Dart’s continued development will be a focal point of the head coach search that accelerates Monday into formal interview requests.

First things first, however: The Giants need to announce Schoen’s future, though it would be a surprise if a change was made despite a 7-27 record over the last two seasons.

In fact, the season-ending back-to-back wins represent the first back-to-back Giants wins since late in the 2023 season when rookie Tommy DeVito won three straight.

“We made the plays this time,” Slayton said. “You say to yourself, ‘If we just do that earlier in the season in games, we’ll find ourselves where we want to be at the end of the year.’ ”

The Giants kicked three first-half field goals — including one after squandering great starting field position thanks to a Jamie Gillan punt down to the 1-yard line and an ensuing Okereke fumble recovery — but trailed 10-9 in the final minute of the second quarter.

Facing a third-and-16, Dart dodged a sack and side-arm shoved the ball to Daniel Bellinger with the idea of staying in (and shortening) field-goal range. Instead, Bellinger weaved through missed tackles for a 29-yard go-ahead touchdown and a reminder that Dart’s off-schedule playmaking is the biggest sign of hope for the Giants.

“This is the last time this group is able to go out on the field together,” Dart said. “We wanted to make the most of it.”

Or the least of it if you care most about draft position.