What The Hell Did I Just See?? GIANTS WIN!
I’m a lifer when it comes to the New York Giants. My first true experience was watching Super Bowl XXI with my grandfather (the ultimate Giants fan) at 9 years old. Watching his excitement as they beat the Broncos made that little kid into the Giants fan I am today, which is why the last decade of terrible football has been disheartening.
This past offseason, the team cleaned house. Lots of bad contracts were terminated, they hired a new coach & general manager, and asked fans to “be patient” with the rebuild. Needless to say, I don’t think ANY Giants fan was expecting what we got on opening day of 2022…defeating last year’s #1 seed in the AFC – the Tennessee Titans – in dramatic comeback fashion.
The game started as it was to be expected, with the Giants trailing 13-0 at halftime. In the 3rd quarter, the (hopefully) resurgent Saquon Barkley had a 68 yard rush, where a few plays later he scored to cut the lead to 13-6 after a botched PAT.
3 minutes later, Daniel Jones hooked up with Sterling Shepard for a 65-yard TD to tie the game at 13-13. Now we’re thinking, “Oh what’s this??” with some highly guarded optimism.
The Titans would answer back with a score to make it 20-13 Tennessee and most Giants fans let out the “here we go again” vibe. The fourth quarter would be lots of back and forth with no scoring until the Giants would score when Daniel Jones hooked up with Chris Myarick (a fullback!) for a 1-yard TD to make it 20-19 Titans.
Then…it happened. Head Coach Brian Daboll would make the first huge decision of his Giants career by passing up the extra point to go for two and take the lead. He’d either be a hero or second guessed by everyone on Monday morning, but there was Saquon Barkley, pushing ahead to get the 2 points and give the Giants a 21-20 lead with just over one minute remaining. You’d think that should put the Giants on the precipice of their first opening week win in 6 years, but remember…this is the NEW YORK GIANTS, so that means there’s more heartburn to come.
The Titans get the ball back with under a minute left and the Giants proceed to keep them alive with two defensive holding penalties on consecutive third downs, setting up what would be a 47-yard FG to give them the victory. It’s over, right? The Giants are going to out-Giants themselves and blow the game by handing it to Tennessee.
NOT THIS TIME! Randy Bullock MISSES the field goal wide left and the Giants are 1-0 for the first time since 2015 (this is not a typo). A little magic for the Giants and now we all sit here with a tiny bit of optimism that maybe, JUST MAYBE, we’ve got a little something special going here as this team didn’t quit after the first half and played for their new coach. Could they finish the season 1-16? Sure! It’s the Giants after all…but let’s pump the brakes a little bit and savor an opening week victory while also praying that Saquon Barkley is officially back to being the premiere runner we knew we had his first two seasons.
If this is a dream, don’t wake me…yet.
