Stafford leads 2-0 Lions over hapless Giants

On a night when the New York Giants honored their 2007 Super Bowl championship team at halftime, the current Giants once again looked like chumps.

Detroit rookie Jamal Agnew returned a punt 88 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown, and Matthew Stafford threw two touchdown passes to help the Lions earn a 24-10 win over host New York on Monday night.

Agnew’s punt return, the fifth longest in team history, broke open the game. The touchdown gave the Lions (2-0) a 14-point lead.

“We put this game on me,” said Giants coach Ben McAdoo, who saw his team flop not just on special teams but on offense and defense as well while falling to 0-2.

“We talk about playing complete, complementary football, but by no stretch of the imagination did we get that done tonight.”

Stafford finished 15-of-21 for 122 yards with no interceptions. Both his touchdown passes came on third-and-long plays in the first half and gave his team a 17-7 halftime lead.

The Giants, who have now gone eight consecutive games scoring fewer than 20 points, got a third-quarter, 25-yard field goal by kicker Aldrick Rosas, cutting the deficit to 17-10.

New York might have had more on that possession, but after driving all the way to the Lions 1-yard line, the Giants had a series of miscues that began with left guard Brett Jones being flagged for holding.

The Giants made up most of the penalty yardage, getting back to the 2-yard line, but on fourth down with the offense prepared to go for it, quarterback Eli Manning was flagged for a delay-of-game penalty. That led to a field goal.

In the second quarter, the defense forced and then recovered a fumble by Stafford, who was sacked and stripped of the ball by defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. But on the ensuing possession, the Giants gave the ball right back to the Lions when Manning’s pass intended for Evan Engram was picked off by Tahir Whitehead.

The biggest missed opportunity for the Giants came in the fourth quarter. Receiver Brandon Marshall, who had his man beat on a long pass that would have put the Giants deep into Lions territory, dropped the ball. After the Giants failed to extend that drive, Agnew scored his punt-return touchdown.

“That was the biggest play of the game,” Marshall said of his drop. “I got an opportunity to make a big play and change the momentum, and I lost it.”

Manning finished 22-of-32 for 239 yards with one TD and one interception.