Two years ago, the Giants were playing the Bills in Buffalo. Despite their 1-4 record, they outplayed the Bills. But because of several mistakes - one near the end of the first half - they lost the game when Josh Allen connected on a 15-yard pass to Quinton Morris in the end zone with 3:48 left in the fourth quarter. That was basically it for Big Blue. They never fully recovered from that loss.
I'm not prepared to throw in the towel on the Giants just yet. For one thing, this was only the second game of the season; for another, unlike that game in 2023, and so many others over the last ten years, this time around the offense wasn't the problem. Indeed, after sleepwalking through a 21-6 loss to the Commanders in Washington the previous week, the Jints looked like Air Coryell against the Cowboys in Dallas. Russell Wilson resembled the quarterback who took the Seattle Seahawks to consecutive Super Bowls a decade ago. If you're a Giants fan, you haven't seen anything like this since Eli Manning was under center.
The Giants put up 37 points on the day, with Wilson completing 30 of 41 passes for 450 yards and three touchdowns, the last one coming with 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to put New York up by three. And if Shane Bowen had been more aggressive with his defensive play calling on the Cowboys last possession in regulation, this team would be 1-1 instead of 0-2.
Then again, if James Hudson hadn't committed four penalties on the opening drive - one of which cost his team a first and goal at the two yard line - the Giants probably would've had a seven-point lead against the Cowboys with 25 seconds to go instead of three, thus rendering the soft defensive play calling by Bowen moot.
But then that's been the pattern for this franchise for years, hasn't it? When they score, their defense fails them; when they play good defense, they can't find the end zone to save their lives. And sometimes, it's just good old-fashioned poor play calling or untimely mistakes. The Giants are a veritable smorgasbord of bad luck, if ever there was one.
And in a season in which their first nine games are the toughest of any team in the NFL, they can ill afford to squander any opportunity to get a win. That's what makes Sunday's loss in Dallas so brutal. They outplayed the Cowboys for the majority of the game; they were the better team on the field; they deserved a better fate than they got. Stop me if you've heard this before.
And with the Kansas City Chiefs coming to town, things aren't going to get any easier for the men in blue. The Chiefs are 0-2. The last tine they started the season 0-3 was 2011 - 14 years ago! The Giants, on the other hand, have started the season 0-3 four times over that span. If we know anything about Patrick Mahomes, he hates losing about as much as a vampire hates a sunrise. He knows he hasn't played up to his standard, and neither have his teammates. With the sting of last year's Super Bowl flop still sticking in their craw, they will be in a foul mood when they take the field at MetLife this Sunday, you can be sure of that.
Look, we all knew the Giants had a brutal schedule before the season started. They should be 1-1; they aren't. As an old boss of mine used to say, "Pete, it is what it is." What's important now is that this team continue to play as hard as it can. They have talent on both sides of the ball; more talent than they had three years ago when they went 9-7-1 and secured a Wild Card spot. They have a quarterback who can throw deep and on target; Malik Nabers is a star in the making; and as a team they've recorded six sacks so far.
In August, I predicted a record of 7-10. I saw nothing in Dallas to make me regret that prediction. Just the opposite, in fact. If they play like they did against the Cowboys - sans the penalties and soft defense - they are going to surprise a number of teams before this season is over; perhaps even the Chiefs.
Just don't quote me on that, okay?
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