New York Giants, Daniel Jones Needed Over 91 Minutes To Score Points This Season, Then They Just Couldn't Stop Scoring

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The New York Giants were one of the biggest surprises in the NFL last season. Under new head coach Brian Daboll, the team won nine games and made the playoffs. Then, they beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card Round. They rewarded quarterback Daniel Jones with a big contract extension.

Unfortunately, the early returns this season were not good. After a humiliating 40-0 home shutout loss against the rival Dallas Cowboys, the Giants had much higher hopes in Week 2. After all, they went from playing one of the league's best defenses to facing one of the worst teams in the NFL.

But Jones and the Giants made the Cardinals defense look exactly the same as the Cowboys defense in the first half.

Daniel Jones and the New York Giants continued to look terrible in the first half of Week 2 before absolutely catching fire over the final 30 minutes.

Daniel Jones and the New York Giants continued to look terrible in the first half of Week 2 before absolutely catching fire over the final 30 minutes. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

After not scoring at all in Week 1, the Giants did not post a single point during the first half against the Cardinals.

New York possessed the ball five times in the first 30 minutes. The results: punt, punt, punt, interception, end of half. They trailed 20-0 for an aggregate score of 60-0 over the first six quarters of the season.

Yikes.

Fortunately, Brian Daboll must have delivered one heck of a halftime speech. The Giants came out firing in the second half. Daniel Jones hit rookie Jalin Hyatt for a 58-yard catch on the first play of the half. Two plays later, Jones took the ball into the endzone for the first time in 2023 for the G-Men.

It took the team 91 minutes and 17 seconds, but the New York Giants finally put points on the board this NFL season. Apparently, they really liked the feeling they got from scoring points.

Because suddenly, they started doing it. A lot.

In their first 17 offensive drives of the season, the Giants scored 0 points. In their first four drives of the second half against the Cardinals, New York scored four touchdowns. They trailed by 21 points in the third quarter, but rebounded to tie the score.

The bad news is that on their way to winning the game, star running back Saquon Barkley left the game with an apparent leg injury.

Despite losing Barkley, Graham Gano kicked a game-winning 34-yard field goal with 19 seconds left in the game. That capped off the Giants fifth-straight drive that ended in points after 17 empty possessions.

The Giants averted disaster in Week 2 and managed to even their record at 1-1.

But the attention turns to the health of Saquon Barkley. Stay tuned.

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.