The Giants lost at Seattle on Sunday.

But Nick Gates won.

Thirteen months after he suffered a gruesome shattered tibia and fibula in his left leg in a Week 2 game against Washington last season, the 26-year-old offensive lineman not only returned to the Giants’ active roster Sunday for the first time since enduring seven surgeries, but he played in the game.

Gates’ first play back was in the goal-line jumbo package, where from the left side of the line he sealed off Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin, nearly plowing him into the first row of the stands while running back Saquon Barkley scored the Giants only touchdown of the game.

After the play, as he lay on his back on the turf Gates kicked his legs into the air in a child-like celebration as if it was he who crossed the goal line with the football in his hands.

And up in the nosebleed seats at Lumen Field — Section 313, Row FF to be exact — tears flowed. That’s where Gates’ mother, Sonja, along with his older brother, Matt, and a slew of cousins, nieces and nephews sat for the game.

Sonja Gates, who traveled from her home in Las Vegas to experience the moment, told The Post she didn’t care if Nick got to play in the game or not, that she was there to merely see him in uniform again. That, in her mind, represented a monumental victory.

“My whole goal coming here was so I could be here to watch him run on that field in a uniform ready to play if he gets that opportunity,’’ Sonja said. “After the long 13 months he’s gone through with the physical pain, the emotional pain, for us to be there and watch him walk out on that field, that’s all we care about.

“Would we love to see him play? Absolutely, because I know that’s what he wants to do.’’

Gates got in for two plays in the jumbo package.

“Just seeing him run out onto that field was my dream come true,’’ Sonja said. “But for Nick I know that getting out there to play again was his dream. And what more can you ask for than to see your children’s dreams come true?’’

Sonja said she’s never seen her son’s injury. She was unable to connect and stream the Giants-Washington game that fateful day.

“I think it was God’s way of protecting me,’’ Sonja said. “I still have not seen a replay of the injury. I refuse to watch it.’’

She immediately flew to the Virginia hospital where Nick underwent the first of his seven surgeries and stayed with him for the two weeks while he was in the hospital. Then she accompanied him back to New Jersey and stayed with him for two months during the early part of his recovery.

“My first worry was that he was going to lose his leg,’’ she said. “I wanted him to have a leg and to be able to play with his children when he has them. Football was not foremost on my mind. It was on his. Every doctor we saw, every time he saw a doctor, that was his first question: ‘Am I going to be able to play football again?’

“Nick is very physically strong. So I knew physically he was going to be OK. But to have that snatched away from him in a second, that was hard. He was undrafted and he fought his way to where he’d gotten. And for that to happen, it was really hard.

“But when Nick puts his mind to something, there’s no stopping him. He never lost sight of what he wanted to do.’’

That’s what made Sunday in Seattle so powerful.

Before the game, Nick met with Sonja, Matt and the rest of the family, taking pictures with each of the nieces and nephews.

“We were crying with him down on the field before the game; it was very emotional,’’ Matt told The Post.

“I’ve only seen my brother cry twice,’’ Nick Gates told The Post after the game. “One of them was [Sunday] and the other one was when I broke my leg. Before that, I can never remember seeing him cry. I was definitely happy to have him there.

“I relied on him and my mom a lot mentally and emotionally. It was good to have them there in the stands to see my first snaps back. It means a lot to them and it means a lot to me. It was a special moment.’’

A week after Gates was voted by his teammates as a team captain last fall, as he lay on that field in Maryland, his season was wrecked and his career in doubt.

“It was very difficult, because the stars were lining up for him last year,’’ Matt said. “He came in undrafted, he ends up starting, he gets named captain and then he has that horrific injury. I feel like last year was kind of robbed from him.

“He’ll do it again; I know he will. There’s no doubt in my mind. People say he’s lucky. He’s not lucky. He’s hard-nosed, grind, grind, grind. He’s earned everything he’s gotten. Coming back is a testament to his mental toughness.’’

Gates is no longer a team captain by title, but he’s still viewed that way by his teammates.

“He’s a leader on this team still,’’ Barkley said. “What he’s been through and the way that he’s worked — he never gave up. He’s the comeback player of the year in my mind.’’