The difference between 1-0 and 0-1 is monumental for the Giants.

When the proceedings are over and over with Sunday at MetLife Stadium, they have to be won-and-oh! And they are advised not to be nobody-and-one.

It’s not like the season will fall apart if the Giants start the 2024 season with a loss.

A Week 1 loss won’t hurt, but it could be damaging in this regard: There’s so much negativity in the air from the outside, so little respect for their roster and talented core, so much disdain for returning quarterback Daniel Jones and so little faith in what general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll have put together.

There is a lot of speculation that this is one of the worst outfits in the NFL, and it gets worse when the opener is a disappointment.

With all this animosity for what the Giants could become, imagine how much more bleak the opponents will be if the Vikings — with the Jets and Panthers having fired Sam Darnold at quarterback — come to the Meadowlands and put pressure on the home team.

There are always reasons for optimism, even if those reasons come from within and are based more on hope than evidence.

The Giants have a brilliant rookie wide receiver in Malik Nabers and a proven new edge rusher in Brian Burns.

They have Daboll as their play-caller on offense for the first time, and he’s one of the best in the league when it comes to handling that responsibility.

There are signs the passing game could explode and the defense could be disrupted with Burns, Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeau all oiled up and ready to go.

This is a franchise celebrating its 100th anniversary, with plenty of festivities planned early and often for this season, starting with the wild retro uniforms (red is the dominant color, and there are plenty of stripes and — take note — khaki pants) the Giants wore in the season opener.

The script doesn’t have a big, bold “L” to start the story.

“We’re certainly aware of it and we’ve talked about it,” Jones said. “I think it’s important to understand how rich the tradition is in this organization and the history behind playing for the New York Giants and what that means and what this franchise means to the NFL. That’s all very special to be a part of and we have a lot of respect for that as players.”

Jones enters his sixth season with the Giants and immediately finds himself at the top of a difficult position that will only get worse if he underperforms.

The Giants made no secret of their desire to replace him, moving up in the draft to land their franchise quarterback.

When that dream didn’t materialize, they used their first-round pick to give their beleaguered starting player a prize weapon, then retired a jersey (number 1, previously worn by Ray Flaherty in 1935) to give to Nabers. That’s quite a legacy for a 21-year-old to live up to.

The Giants have key evidence of how Game 1 can stoke a certain atmosphere.

In Daboll’s debut as head coach, the Giants bounced back to win the 2022 season opener against Tennessee 21-20, with Daboll making a 2-point conversion to win the game.

There was also more than a touch of much-needed luck when the Titans missed a field goal as time expired, catapulting the Giants to six wins in their first seven games.

Last season, the Giants were beaten 40-0 at home by the Cowboys, losing eight of their first ten games.

“Twenty-four years of this, 24th opening game,” Daboll said. “Every year is different. We’ve played on Thursday night, on Sunday at 1. It really doesn’t matter what you did the year before or two years ago, whatever it is. What matters is that you do everything you can do this week to prepare for a football game. That’s all of us, what we’re all going to do.”