Giants win over Tennessee 21-20

"What a great way to start off this new season. No one thought this first game of the season would be an easy one for the Giants. Today started with checking in on how two other division teams were doing since they were playing earlier on. Both the Eagles and Commanders were favored to win, and they did. The Giants were not favored over the Titans for obvious reasons, but like many fans, I was hoping for an upset.
You could see that the Titans fans were fired up seeing running back Derrick Henry back on the field. It wasn't a great start for the Giants who went three-and-out, followed by the Titans scoring a touchdown. By the end of the half the Giants hadn't made many first downs. Four drives were punts, and Daniel Jones had fumbled the ball over on the last of the four sacks he took.
Somehow the game wasn't out of hand, and the Giants were trailing by just 13-0. Saquon Barkley was looking much more like himself, Jones had completed some nice passes to Richie James, Kenny Golladay, and Barkley. The offense was inconsistent, and it was troublesome that Jones wasn't getting the pass protection he could use to keep things going.
Things changed at the start of the second half. The Giants defense had the Titans three-and-out, and on the Giants first play, Barkley broke free for a 68 yard run. They rested him, and Matt Breida kept things going with two carries for 13 yards. Barkley came back in and ran four yards for the touchdown. Before I could get too excited, they botched the extra point snap. That put the score at Titans 13 - Giants 6.
The next time the Giants had the ball, Sterling Shepard got into the mix with a 65 yard touchdown catch, and the game was tied 13-13. Things were looking good until the Titans next drive. They started putting it all together with quarterback Ryan Tannehill completing passes, and Henry running the ball until Tannehill threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to put the Titans up 20-13.
A few drives later, the Giants had a chance to tie things up when the special teams unit recovered a punt fumble at the Titans 11-yard line. Jones messed that up, throwing an interception into the end zone. The fourth quarter was winding down, and things weren't looking good, but as a Giants fan you're used to that. A touchdown drive gave you some hope, and then when the call was to go for two instead of tie, you were hoping they wouldn't, hoping they maybe could. I didn't know what I wanted them to do.
Jones pulled it off with a short pass to Barkley, and suddenly the Giants had the lead for the first time in the game! Of course as I said earlier, Giants fans are used to things not looking good, and the Titans drove down the field for what looked like a very makeable 47-yard field goal in their home stadium. The kicker missed as time expired, and the Giants had a 21-20 win! I couldn't believe it. The Giants haven't given us a season opener win for a number of years, but today we got one."

"Going for two, a missed field goal, and a win. It was great. The big question is did the Giants really turn a page, or was it all just a fluke. The Giants had many objectives on their list going into this first game of the season. First up was providing a decent offensive line for Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley to as productive as they could be. Did they do that today? By the end of the first half, pass protection had allowed Jones to be sacked 4 times, including one for a fumble that led to a Titans field goal and a 13-0 lead.
Things would have been easier if the opposing team didn't have players like Jeffery Simmons and Rashad Weaver coming at them. The line did better with their run blocking, and by the time the game was over Barkley had 18 carries for 164 yards and one touchdown.
Did Daniel Jones move the confidence meter? Well, he was 17 of 21, missing on only 4 passes, but his one interception was hard to take. With the Giants trailing 20-13, special teams recovered a muffed fair-catch punt, giving Jones the ball at the Titans 11-yard line. Three plays later Jones telegraphed a pass to Barkley in the end zone, and it was intercepted.
Was defensive coordinator Wink Martindale's defense an improvement over what Patrick Graham gave us last year? After Jones was intercepted they got the Titans off the field after just one first down. The Giants had just about five and a half minutes left, and Jones finished the drive with a one yard touchdown pass to fullback Chris Myarick. Head Coach Brian Daboll then called for a two-point conversion. If it didn't work, the Giants would surely lose as there was just about a little over a minute left in the game. Jones completed a shovel pass to Barkley, and the Giants were up 21-20.
The defense allowed Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill to get down to the Giants 29-yard line, setting up a 47 yard field goal attempt. Luckily for the Giants it missed, and they came away with the victory. Overall, the defense was effective against the run, limiting the Titans to just 2 first downs rushing, and running back Derrick Henry was held to 82 yards on 21 carries.
You would have liked to see them do better against Tannehill, especially on that last drive. Tannehill was sacked once, and completed 20 of his 33 passes for 266 yards, and 2 touchdowns. They were working without two of their edge rushers, first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari, the team leader in sacks last year. We'll have watch and reevaluate after the Giants play in their home opener next week against the Carolina Panthers."

[Back to Team Giants] Click on the Team Giants logo to be informed of all Giants game previews, reviews and off season football news. Stop in and visit "Mike's Keys to the Internet" at  MikesKeys.com