Saquon Barkley (and Fans) Returned. But So Did Last Season’s Giants.
A new Giants season suddenly looked no different than last year’s 10-loss disappointment. The fans slumped back into their seats.
The opening day of a football season always has an air of rebirth — until it feels like a repeat.
As the final seconds of Denver’s thorough 27-13 thumping of the Giants wound down — the home team would score a meaningless touchdown on the game’s final play — the MetLife stands were mostly empty. That had been the case last season, because of pandemic restrictions. The void this time, however, felt different, especially since the remaining soundtrack of the event was the raucous cheering of a few thousand Broncos fans.
In the end, Barkley rushed for only 26 yards on 10 carries. Jones, charged with reducing the costly turnovers that have been the scourge of his first two seasons as a starter, lost a fumble deep in Denver territory at a pivotal juncture of the game. The Giants’ much ballyhooed defense repeatedly failed to force the Broncos off the field as Denver converted seven of 15 third-downs — and all three fourth-down tries.
It left Joe Judge, the second-year Giants coach, cognizant of why Giants fans scurried for the MetLife Stadium exits by the midpoint of the fourth quarter, if not earlier.
