Giants focused on making long trip to Germany worth it by returning home with a victory over the Panthers

MUNICH, Germany — The Giants know they have a long road back to respectability.

Heck, they were not even the best football team at their practice site on Friday. They were using the facilities of German soccer powerhouse Bayern Munich.

But it must start somewhere, so it might as well be here, where the NFL has dispatched the Giants and Carolina Panthers as their latest global marketing emissaries.

Both teams are 2-7, which makes Sunday’s game at Allianz Arena perhaps less than an ideal example of the league’s product.

For the coaches and players, though, it is a chance to change the scenery and, they hope, the vibe as they enter the second half of the season.

“You can’t sit around and look at all the losses that you’ve got going,” Malik Nabers said after practice. “You have to keep moving forward week after week.

“I think it would be great if we start the next [stretch of] weeks off with a win.”

The change of venue can’t hurt. The Giants are 0-5 at home, and their most recent victory was in Seattle on Oct. 6, so apparently long flights do not bother them.

This one was the longest yet (approximately seven hours). But after practice, the six players made available to reporters seemed relatively well rested and ready for two new experiences — playing in Germany and winning.

Nabers said he stayed up later than usual on Wednesday night to tire himself out, then took “some sleeping medicine” before leaving New Jersey on Thursday evening.

“When I got on that plane, I put the seat back and I was out,” he said. “I slept the whole time. I was knocked out.”

Dexter Lawrence, arguably the team’s most important leader and certainly its best player, said he also got good sleep on the flight.

“We know this is not the best situation, but sometimes you’ve got to adapt to where you’re at and still show up,” he said.

There are thousands of Giants fans in the city for the game, but the stadium figures to have many neutral observers, too, creating an odd atmosphere.

That is the nature of these international games, perhaps even more so in this case with both teams struggling badly.

Many Giants played in London only two years ago, which could help them on Sunday.

Quarterback Daniel Jones called that previous experience “helpful.”

He added: “I don’t think there’s any special trick to it or any secret. I think it’s just trying to get your rest and catch up after a long flight.”

The goal is simple: To not make the long flight back after the game seem even longer with another loss.

Notes & quotes: K Graham Gano (hamstring) and P Jamie Gillan (hamstring) practiced and were not on the injury report, so they should be ready to return . . . S Jason Pinnock (abdomen) is listed as questionable. Brian Daboll said he is “a concern for the game.” . . . Giants chairman Steve Tisch attended practice.

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.