#Nothing is normal as Daniel Jones, Joe Judge take on Giants camp

The signs that this will be business as unusual will be everywhere around 1925 Giants Drive when a pandemic welcomes the rookie head coach and the second-year successor to Eli Manning.

Not even learning at the feet of Nick Saban and Bill Belichick could prepare Joe Judge for this. Not even being a sponge under Manning could prepare Daniel Jones for this.

The backdrop against which the J&J Boys begin a quest to pick the Giants up off the canvas and bring them back — following a virtual offseason, amid the Black Lives Matter movement, featuring growing pleas to wash your hands and keep your social distance and wear a mask.

Judge tries to build a New York Tough team the area can be proud of for a change, and Jones tries to fix his fumbling problem and take a second-year leap with major assistance from Saquon Barkley but without the benefit of a single preseason game.

Judge, from afar, looks to have emerged as a laser-focused captain of a ship already desperate for someone to weather the storms that have rained calamity on the franchise since Super Bowl XLVI.

Jones, who came out of Duke wanting to be the quarterback of the Giants, is eager to grow as a leader and be Judge’s sergeant-in-right-arm and unflappable field general, and had already showed us that Next Mann Up didn’t faze him in the least.

For Giants fans, reason for optimism.

Of course, there is always optimism in the air in summer training camp, even in East Rutherford, N.J. The difference this time is the dark cloud of a highly contagious and deadly virus is lingering and loitering up there with it.

Bill Parcells could not have bullied this virus. Lawrence Taylor could not have sacked this virus. Tom Coughlin could not have demanded the virus show up five minutes early to meetings. Manning and David Tyree could not have connected on any Helmet Catch against this virus.

In an economically obsessed, television-driven league that is desperate to play, come hell or high positive-test count, with fans in the stadiums wearing masks or without fans in the stadiums, in a sport where blood, sweat and occasionally tears are spread freely following collisions that are inevitable when 11 men huddle with designs on embarrassing 11 angry men standing defiantly between them and the end zone, this is indeed a daunting task for a rookie head coach and a young franchise quarterback.

But remember: This is also all new for Belichick, who will be without Tom Brady for the first time in two decades, and it is new for Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, and for Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson, and for Sean Payton and Drew Brees, and for Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott, and for Doug Peterson and Carson Wentz, and for everyone else.

Now no one should be rooting for the virus to level the NFL playing field any more than parity has, but every team will be leaning heavily on the expertise and vigilance of its infection control officers from here to eternity.

So the giant challenge awaiting Judge and Jones is dwarfed by the gargantuan challenge that confronts the NFL to even get to the Sept. 10 (Texans-Chiefs) season opener.

Publicly, the NFL has continuously stiff-armed any possibility the virus could delay, imperil or — heaven forbid — even cancel the season. The ostentatious draft show in Las Vegas was scrapped, then the OTAs and minicamps, then the Hall of Fame Game, then two preseason games, then all preseason games. The NFL kept buying itself time. And now time is up.

Judge is the CEO ownership has craved post-Coughlin. Jones is the young franchise quarterback ownership is convinced can carry the torch from Manning. Judge and GM Dave Gettleman used their fourth pick of the draft on offensive tackle Andrew Thomas. Jones, guided now by offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, should feel more comfortable in the pocket than he would be playing Flip Cup again with Manning.

There will be no fans inside MetLife Stadium when the Giants open their season on Monday night, Sept. 14 against the Steelers. There remains the possibility there will be no players and teams there either.

There is no bubble. There are certain to be players who consider themselves invincible, risking exposure at night and likely their frequent testing moot. Some will go home to wives and schoolchildren. The Giants will be flying to hot spots; every team will be. Then there is the ominous threat of a dreaded second wave of infection in the fall. Which would make a 16-game season a Hail Fauci.

There are still four Lombardi trophies standing in the window case inside the disinfected Quest Diagnostics Center as a reminder of who and what the Giants were, but haven’t been since the 2011 season. Judge and Jones bring hope to a fan base starving for a better tomorrow for the foreseeable future.

Except no one can see the future right now. Maybe 50 days from now, Dr. Anthony Fauci will be invited to midfield for the coin flip. Maybe Judge and Jones can then begin the kind of trusted partnership that Coughlin and Manning enjoyed for a dozen years. Or maybe this merciless virus will leave us referring chillingly to the NFL as the National Fauci League.