Entering Sunday’s season opener, no one knew what to expect out of the 2018 Giants, with their new head coach, Pat Shurmur, their shiny-new-toy running back and the return of a healthy Odell Beckham Jr.
By day’s end, the Giants didn’t look like the 3-13 mess they were a year ago.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that on this day, they were still not good enough to win and will enter Week 2 with an 0-1 record after their 20-15 loss to the Jaguars at MetLife Stadium.
To the Giants’ credit, for much of the day they stayed with the Jaguars, who fell one game short of representing the AFC in the Super Bowl last season.
Their rookie running back, Saquon Barkley, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft in the spring, was as good as advertised — rallying from a slow start (12 yards on eight carries in the first half) to rush for 106 yards and a TD in his NFL debut.
Their star receiver, Beckham, returned from his season-ending injury from a year ago to catch 11 passes for 111 yards.
The Giants even had a terrific chance to win this game in the fourth quarter, taking possession of the ball with 4:10 remaining trailing by five points.
Their final drive, however, stalled before they could get to the end zone and leave their hearty fans, who sat through a drizzly, gray day, delirious after having endured such a horrible 2017 season.
The Giants, who started at their own 19-yard line, got as far as the Jacksonville 36-yard line with 1:49 remaining when an Eli Manning pass failed to connect with Sterling Shepard on fourth-and-6.
The Giants were set to get the ball back with 45 seconds to play, but Kaelin Clay fumbled the punt and the Jaguars recovered.
Manning finished 22-of-37 for 224 yards, no TDs and one INT.
The Jaguars took a 3-0 lead on a 39-yard Josh Lambo field goal with 4:48 into the game, capping an 11-play, 59-yard drive.
The Giants’ first offensive possession of the season was an absolute nightmare, marred by two penalties from maligned tackle Ereck Flowers, who was moved from left to right tackle in the offseason by the new coaching regime in an effort to save his fledgling career.
With the Giants already backed up to their own 14-yard line to start the series, Flowers was called for a trip of Jaguars defensive lineman Calais Campbell on the first offensive play of the season.
After Barkley was stuffed for no gain on his first NFL carry, an apparent 34-yard Manning completion to tight end Evan Engram was called back because of a holding penalty on Flowers — again on Campbell.
The next play was a 3-yard loss by Barkley on his second NFL carry, leaving the Giants with a third-and-23 from their own 1-yard line.
After a punt, the Giants got the ball back quickly when cornerback Janoris Jenkins stepped in front of Jags receiver Donte Moncrief and picked off a Blake Bortles pass with 5:40 remaining in the first quarter.
This time, the Giants offense showed some life.
A 10-yard Barkley run got things going. That was followed by a 24-yard Manning pass to Beckham. A few moments later, Manning hit Beckham for another 13 yards and a first down on third-and-2.
The drive stalled, but the Giants got their first points of the season on a 27-yard Aldrick Rosas field goal to tie it at 3-3 with 23 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The Jaguars took a 6-3 lead on another 39-yard Lambo field goal, this one with 7:19 remaining in the first half. The field goal came at the end of a drive that ate 8:04 of the clock.
On the drive, the Jags gave the Giants defense a healthy does of running back Leonard Fournette, who finished the first half with 41 rushing yards. Fournette, however, didn’t play again after that series, leaving with a hamstring injury.
The Jaguars, now using Bortles to pass more often, took a 13-3 lead on a 1-yard Bortles scoring pass to Fournette’s backup, T.J. Yeldon, with 2:42 remaining in the first half with Giants safety Landon Collins a step behind him on the rollout pass.
The Giants cut the Jacksonville lead to 13-6 at the half on a 31-yard Rosas field goal with four seconds remaining.
They shaved that lead to 13-9 with a 44-yard Rosas field goal that climaxed their opening possession of the second half, just 5:42 into the third quarter.
The Jaguars took a 20-9 lead with 11:24 remaining in the game when linebacker Myles Jack picked off a deflected Manning pass and returned it 32 yards for a TD.
Manning was hurried when Jacksonville defensive end beat Flowers and Manning’s pass, intended for Engram, was deflected by Jags’ nose tackle Abry Jones.
Just 45 seconds later, the Giants finally got the offensive spark they’d ben waiting for all afternoon when Barkley ran 68 yards for his first career TD to cut the Jacksonville lead to 20-15 after the two-point conversion failed with 10:38 remaining in the game.
