Everything led to this moment.

During Wednesday's team meeting, a time when coaches lay everything out to the players, John Harbaugh looked back at the Giants' journey to Week 1. And what they realized is the last eight months felt like a time warp.

"It feels like it's taken forever to get here, and it feels like it happened just like that at the same time," Harbaugh said with the snap of a finger. "And I don't know how that works. Time is a crazy, amazing thing. But it feels both those things at the same time."

The offseason began with Harbaugh's arrival in one of the area's snowiest winters in recent memory. A score of new assistants and players followed. Before they knew it, the Allegheny Mountains called them to training camp in West Virginia. They checked out of The Greenbrier Resort and back into the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, where renovations had ratcheted up while they were away.

The Giants will use temporary facilities on site for the next couple seasons while their headquarters are expanded and transformed.

"It's gritty," Harbaugh said. "So, maybe it's just what we needed. Maybe God said, 'I need you to be a little grittier as a football team, so we're going to put you in this park over here.'"

The grit and grind of 10 practices in 11 days away from home prepared them for what was to come next: the Miami heat. The Giants looked dominant in a joint practice with the Dolphins and carried it over to their preseason meeting at Hard Rock Stadium. They won by a score of 26-3, an identical match of the difference in first downs for each side.

Following another win over the Jets in the finale, the Giants set their initial 53-man roster and then their sights on Dallas.

"I think that I've just been waiting for this," quarterback Jaxson Dart said. "I think this is just the coolest stage, the coolest opportunity to play in front of our fans, Sunday Night Football against a team like the Cowboys and go out there and compete. It's going to be an electric atmosphere, and I can't wait to be a part of it."

To steal a baseball term, Dart will be the opening day starter for the time in his NFL career. He took the reins in Week 4 of his rookie season but began the year behind two veterans.

"I feel like I'm not even the same person at all," Dart said. "Obviously, the growth that you make from the experiences that you have from one year to the next. And I just feel like I've grown a ton through this offseason. So, I feel comfortable. I feel like I'm seeing things really well. And this is going to be a really good test for our team and with a team like the Cowboys who are going to be really competitive. It's going to be great for us to go out there and compete."

With one rushing touchdown on Sunday night, Dart would join Cam Newton as the only quarterbacks in NFL history with at least 15 touchdown passes and 10 rushing touchdowns in their first 15 career games.

The milestone didn't come without bumps in the road.

After winning his first career start against Jim Harbaugh's Chargers, Dart and the Giants were on top of the world when they defeated the rival Eagles two weeks later in a Thursday night game.

They didn't win another game for 11 weeks.

"I think the biggest thing is just understanding that not everything is going to be smooth," Dart said about his advice to the rookie class, which includes seven draft picks and two undrafted free agents. "You have the expectation of yourself to go out there and play a perfect game, but in all reality, that's not the case. But I think the biggest thing is being able to play the next play, being able to execute the next play, be completely where your feet are."

For the first time when the games count, Harbaugh's feet will be on the sideline as head coach of the Giants.

"It feels like a big game, an opening game that we have against a division team," Harbaugh said. "And I'm excited about it. It's the first time for me, personally, in this rivalry. It's going to be the first time, like some of the other guys on the team, too, and some of the other coaches to be in that stadium for a regular-season game. That's going to be exciting. I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to be a part of it."