If the Giants wanted to make it look good and then lose a close game, more power to them.
They did it in spectacular fashion.
They battled back from a 14-3 fourth-quarter deficit and were poised to send Sunday’s slogfest with the Saints into overtime.
Graham Gano lined up for a 35-yard field goal and the rally the Giants staged turned to ridicule, as Gano’s kick was blocked by Bryan Bresee with eight seconds remaining, ensuring the Giants would lose again, this time 14-11 at MetLife Stadium.
It added another layer of ineptitude to what has been a season full of it.
It’s been so bad a small plane unveiled a banner that stated “MR. MARA ENOUGH – PLZ FIX THIS DUMPSTER FIRE.’’
For anyone who stayed to the end, they saw some fight and flirtation, which means the Giants did not quit. They also did not win, because most of the day, there was varying degrees of lousy offensive football.
For a change, the defense the Giants put on the field was fairly unyielding, despite several lineup changes caused by injuries that depleted the starting lineup.
Now for the flip side. A Giants offense that has been historically bad was even worse.
The inability to run it was overshadowed by what for long stretches was the utter ineptitude with something called the forward pass.
It was mostly sad and comical and painful and embarrassing all rolled into one, seeing Drew Lock try to sit in the pocket and locate his targets. There were bad throws, bad protection and bad hands by the receivers in an overwhelming non NFL-caliber display.
For those keeping count, that is consecutive loss No. 8 for a team that is moving inexorably toward a coveted top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Giants (2-11) went into the weekend holding the No. 3 overall pick, according to Tankathon. With the Jaguars (3-10) beating the Titans, the Giants moved up to the No. 2 spot.
The Giants trailed 14-3 before they moved 82 yards in 13 plays, with Lock hitting Malik Nabers for 22 yards and Tyrone Tracy scoring on a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 4:11 remaining.
On the two-point conversion, Lock’s pass was deflected and Nabers was able to pluck it out of the air and lean across the goal line to cut the deficit to three points.
Micah McFadden made a third-down stop and the Giants had the ball back on their 14-yard line with 3:07 left. They got to their own 38 before the mini-rally fizzled when Lock threw an interception to Demario Davis on fourth down with 1:44 to go.
The Giants got the ball back with 1:21 to go. Lock scrambled for 25 yards on fourth-and-10 and hit Malik Nabers for 23 yards to the Saints’ 12-yard line. Lock tried two throws into the end zone and then Gano came onto the field and calamity ensued.
There were plenty of unoccupied gray seats, which was to be expected, and actually not as many as there could have been, considering the product the paying customers have been forced to endure this season. Expect those same seats to be filled with Ravens fans for next weekend’s mismatch.
The Saints (5-8) did not have to do much. They got an eight-yard touchdown run by Kendre Miller in the first quarter and actually did not need any more points than that.
The Giants did not get in the end zone, with one Graham Gano field goal the sum total of their scoring production. It was two Gano field goals until his 48-yarder was taken off the board early in the fourth quarter when an offensive lineman named Jake Kubas was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty.
Lock was miserable and had plenty of company. He started 0 for 8 and ended up 21 of 49 for 227 yards and one interception. He struggled almost every step of the way.
The Giants are moving dangerously close to where none of their teams in the previous 99 years of franchise existence have ever gone.
Their eight consecutive losses is approaching their longest-ever losing streak of nine games, a record of infamy reached three times: 1976, 2003 stretching into 2004 and 2019.
Defying the time-tested NFL data that playing at home is beneficial to a team, the Giants are now 0-7 at their Meadowlands site. The only year the Giants ever went an entire season winless at home was 1974, when they played at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Ct. and finished 0-7 in their temporary home.
There are two home games left – vs, the Ravens and Colts – for the Giants to break through at home this season.
The Giants came into the game with an NFL-low 183 points, an average of 15.3 points a game. The last time the Giants scored the fewest points in the league for an entire season? 1953. That was a long time ago.
