The New York Giants put together their best performance of the 2023 season on Sunday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills in Week 6. Alas, it still wasn’t enough to pick up a win, as they lost 14-9.
Morale victories don’t mean much in the NFL, which head coach Brian Daboll expressed with comments after the game. But, for how bad the Giants have looked at points during their 1-5 start, the coaching staff has to be encouraged at least a little bit by how they played this past weekend.
Daboll and his staff put together the perfect game plan given the circumstances they were facing. Without starting quarterback Daniel Jones and with an offensive line that was further decimated by injuries with Josh Edeudu injuring his toe, the Giants had their backs up against the wall.
The players responded, playing a nearly perfect game. They were in a position to win but came up short in a few key moments, which separates the good teams from the bad ones. The gaffe that Tyrod Taylor, Jones’s replacement at quarterback, had before halftime was costly.
He checked to a running play despite the team having no timeouts and watched the clock bleed away, failing to get points on the board. Daboll was furious heading into the locker room, as the Giants should have had a two-possession lead. On the final play of the game, New York was once again at the one-yard line and unable to punch it in, as tight end Darren Waller looked to be interfered with but no flag was thrown.
It was a perfectly executed game plan in every facet to keep the undermanned Giants competitive with a talented Bills team. However, instead of getting a victory, they made history no one wants to be tied to.
According to OptaSTATS on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Giants are the first team in the Super Bowl era to have more rushing yards, more passing yards, fewer interceptions thrown, fewer fumbles lost and fewer missed field goals than their opponent and still lose. Teams in such a position were 134-0, including the postseason, before Sunday night.
It is not a stretch to say that New York had quite literally the perfect game plan in place. They were right there in the end with a chance to win despite all of the obstacles they had to overcome. But, at the end of the day, they were unable to get the job done and are now on the wrong side of NFL history as a result.
