THE FOURTH AWAKENS Giants rally to extend streak — and this time they’re not satisfied with the finish
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This might have been a turning point for the Giants, who no longer are delighted and relieved and maybe even somewhat surprised when they win a game.
They did it again on Sunday in a riveting and imperfect 60 minutes of frenzied action that came down to a final, fateful play, with three Giants defensive backs coming together to stop a Jaguars wide receiver at the 1-yard line to secure another comeback victory, this one a tense 23-17 escape-job at sun-drenched TIAA Bank Field.
They did it with Daniel Jones flashing a rare show or emotion as he ran through the Jaguars’ defense with abandon. They did it with Saquon Barkley running wild in the second half but making the critical mistake of going out of bounds to make life far more difficult in the closing moments for a defense that was having all sorts of problems dealing with quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne.
They did it, winning their fourth consecutive game to rise to 6-1, and afterwards realized they need to be better.
“Made it tougher than we needed it to be,’’ coach Brian Daboll said.
“If we executed better, we definitely could have done more to not make it such a nail-biter at the end,’’ said receiver Darius Slayton, who caught a first-quarter touchdown pass.
They managed to get the win and that they know it should have been closed out earlier than it was is a sign of growth for these Giants. Leading 20-17, Barkley ripped off runs of 13, 7 and 20 yards to keep the clock moving and keep the yards churning. Graham Gano hit a 34-yard field goal with 1:07 remaining to give the Giants a six-point lead. But Barkley failed to stay in bounds on his final third-down run, costing the Giants 42 seconds, as the clock had run down to 25 seconds before a review determined he stepped out.
“Just got to do better,’’ Barkley said. “Not going to make any excuses. Just got to be better. That’s really it. I’m expected to understand the situation. I knew the situation. I tried to get down, but got to do a better job of it.’’
The door was open for the Jaguars and their last shot was not without anxiety for the Giants because of defensive penalties on Adoree’ Jackson and Dane Belton — Belton’s negated an interception by Fabian Moreau — and a roughing the passer penalty on Dexter Lawrence — though it looked like it might have instead been Leonard Williams — that put the Jaguars on the Giants’ 17yard line. Lawrence’s final pass, to Christian Kirk, was caught on the 1-yard line and the receiver was hit by Moreau and then Xavier McKinney and then Julian Love from the side. The defenders kept Kirk out of the end zone as the clock ran out.
“Way too close,’’ Moreau said. “It’s one of those plays, get him down, no matter what,’’ Love said.
Before that, the Giants fashioned another one of their late comebacks. Jones finished with a career-high 107 rushing yards on 11 carries and at times carried the offense when the Jaguars were stuffing Barkley, who had only 18 rushing yards at halftime and finished with 110.
Down 17-13, the Giants came up with a fourth-down stop when Lawrence was stopped for no gain on a sneak at the Giants’ 20-yard line. What followed was a drive that was not all Jones, but he was most of it. The winning points came at the end of a 10-play, 79yard drive that put the ball in the hands of Jones and Barkley.
A pass interference penalty on Tyson Campbell for hauling down Slayton in the end zone put the Giants on the 1-yard line and Jones took it in from there. The Giants were up 20-17 with 5:31 to go.
The Giants needed a stop on defense and got it when Jackson came back from a concussion check to defend against former Giants tight end Evan Engram on a third-down pass that dropped to the grass.
The Giants’ first drive of the second half was a good one, helped along when rookie linebacker Devin Lloyd’s interception of Jones was wiped out when linebacker Foyesade Oluokun was called for roughing the passer for nearly head-butting Jones. The drive made it inside the 5-yard line but stalled, with Jones throwing twice for Marcus Johnson. The fourth-down throw was placed in Johnson’s midsection but he dropped the ball near the goal line. As he ran off the field, Jones did what he rarely does — show emotion — when he looked back at the spot of the drop and yelled “Catch the ball.’’
It really was not much of an outburst at all, but Jones regretted it nonetheless.
“Heat of the moment, and I wish I could have that situation back,’’ Jones said. “I pride myself on being composed in those situations. Yeah, I wasn’t there. I’ve got full faith and confidence in the world in Marcus and yeah, disappointed I let that happen.’’
Barkley said he was running “soft’’ in the first half but the Giants managed to lead 13-11 at the break. The Jaguars scored six points in the second half and the Giants outscored them 10-0 in the fourth quarter, continuing a season-long trend.
The game was a rough one for the Giants. They lost two starting offensive linemen, rookie right tackle Evan Neal and left guard Ben Bredeson to knee injuries and rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger was forced out with a gruesome eye injury when he got poked inside his helmet.
“We didn’t play as clean as I would want us to,’’ Love said. “We’re getting these wins, trust me, it feels good, but to get where we want to go we have a lot to improve on.’’