On Thursday night, in their preseason opener on the road against the Patriots, the New York Giants starting offense was on the field for two series and scored three points. On their first drive, the Giants drove 68 yards on 13 plays, and the drive stalled at the New England 7. Graham Gano would hit a 25-yard field to give the first unit their only points.
The Giants would get one first down on the second drive, but they would have to punt. New York drove 19 yards on six plays.
Quarterback Daniel Jones would finish the night 6/10 for 69 yards; RB Saquon Barkley had 13 yards on four carries.
New York would win 23-21 on a Gano 24-yard field goal at the buzzer.
After the game, Giants head coach Brian Daboll, Jones, and Barkley talked about the first-team offense’s performance Thursday night.
“Yeah, there was some good and some things we could have back,” Daboll said about the offense. “What was he(Daniel Jones)? 6 of 10. We threw a couple of vertical plays there. They had a couple of free runners relative to the protection, but I thought he operated the offense well. He let them down on the first drive. We stalled there in the Red Zone. Good first start, but certainly things to clean up.
Jones:
(On how the offense ran operationally)
“I thought it was good, and I thought it was clean. We moved the ball and converted some third downs. The second drive, we got in a tough situation with third and long, but I thought it was clean just from an operational standpoint. There were certainly some plays we can look at and do better and clean up, but overall I thought it was good.”
Barkley:
(On the offense)
“I think there was good and bad. We have to go back and watch film and learn from it. But that’s what preseason is for, to try to sharpen up the tools, sharpen up the game. Whatever we didn’t execute well, we have to make sure we do it in practice.”
(On how he personally felt)
“I felt good. I think our offensive line did a great job. We were able to move the ball. I was able to get a catch on a third and five to keep the sticks moving. It was a great throw by DJ [Daniel Jones] great read by DJ. My body just feels really good. So like I said, taking it one day at a time and improve off this.”
New York plays their second preseason game next Sunday on the road against the Bengals.
