The New York Giants were hoping for a historic performance in Sunday night's Week 1 opener against the Dallas Cowboys, but not like the way that they actually made history.
In what was the ugliest blowout of Week 1, the Giants fell 40-0 at home to the Cowboys. Giants fans looked distraught while sitting in the rain at MetLife Stadium as they watched their team constantly give the ball away while failing to protect quarterback Daniel Jones in the pocket.
The loss was so bad that the hits just kept coming. Along with a 40-point loss, the Giants allowed seven sacks, coughed up the ball three times, had a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, and threw an interception for a touchdown.
According to OptaSTATS, not only has that never happened in a game, no NFL franchise has ever done all of those things in a full regular season.
Tonight the Giants:
-lost the game 40-0 (or worse)
-lost the sack battle 7-0 (or worse)
-lost the turnover battle 3-0 (or worse)
-had a FG blocked & returned for TD
-threw a pick-6No other team in NFL history has had all 5 happen in the same season (let alone all in one game).
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 11, 2023
Expectations were high for the Giants this season, coming off of a playoff appearance in Brian Daboll's first season as the team's head coach. Along with going 9-7-1 last season despite a severe lack of offensive weapons, the Giants even won their wild card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings before falling to the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round.
With the arrival of tight end Darren Waller and top draft picks spent on center John Michael Schmitz and wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, the Giants were hoping for more consistent and sustained drives in 2023. While it's very early, and the conditions on Sunday night were poor, New York's offense looked as inept as ever, failing to score a single point in the game.
There's still plenty of time for the Giants to turn things around, but this isn't the kind of historic performance that fans were hoping for to start the 2023 season.
