KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yes, it did.
“It certainly feels like a missed opportunity,” Daniel Jones said when it was over.
This is a Giants speciality, falling short, when every mistake they make conspires against them, when they are good enough to think about winning but almost always not good enough to make the plays and keep their poise and play with the smarts it takes to actually turn those positive thoughts into results.
Locked in a taut battle with the Chiefs, the underdog Giants Monday night battled long into the evening, taking a lead early in the fourth quarter and threatening to dig Patrick Mahomes and his mates into a deeper hole than they already were in.
There was no upset, though, as the Giants and Jones could not take enough advantage of one of the worst defenses in the NFL and Mahomes, far from brilliant, was able to pick apart the Giants on a final drive that ended with Harrison Butker’s 34-yard field goal with 1:07 left and sent the Giants home with 20-17 loss at Arrowhead Stadium.
There were ghastly gaffes on both sides of the ball that compromised the Giants, which is nothing new.
Jones tossed short touchdown passes to tight ends Kyle Rudolph and Evan Engram, but the Giants could not do enough with the ball in their hands to escape with a victory.
With the game tied at 17, the Chiefs (4-4) got a huge break when Mahomes was intercepted by Darnay Holmes but Oshane Ximines was called for an offside penalty. The turnover would have given the Giants the ball, already in field-goal range, with 4:27 remaining.
“We just can’t have penalties like that,” coach Joe Judge said.
“I’ve been playing ball a long time and jumping offside is not acceptable,” Ximines said softly. “We get paid a lot of money to play this game and jumping offside is something you can’t do as a professional football player.”
There was also a questionable 15-yard facemask penalty on Tae Crowder after a 14-yard reception by Travis Kelce. A 24-yard shovel pass to speedy Mecole Hardman set up Butker’s game-winning kick, completing a nine-play, 53-yard drive.
“We did some good things, but it wasn’t clean enough for us to have a winning performance,” safety Logan Ryan said.
The Giants got the ball back with 67 seconds left and no timeouts to work with. They went nowhere.
The Giants are now 2-6. This means the Giants are on pace for a four- or five-win season, which would represent a disappointing backslide after they finished 6-10 in 2020, Joe Judge’s first year as head coach.
“I don’t know when it’s too late,’’ cornerback James Bradberry said. “I think it’s just too late whenever they say we’re out of playoff contention. Until they say that, we’re going to keep fighting.’’
The Giants are in last place in the NFC East; playoff contention is not part of this season’s agenda.
Jones dropped to 0-6 in his career in prime-time starts. He completed 22 of 32 passes for 222 yards and shook off an interception on his first pass. Mahomes (29 of 48, 275 yards) found Tyreek Hill 12 times for 94 yards and one touchdown.
The return of rookie Kadarius Toney (4-26) did not provide any fireworks and the Giants lost Sterling Shepard to another injury.
Down 14-10, the Giants were bending but not breaking on defense and came up with a key turnover when Ryan yanked the ball loose from Travis Kelce. Bradberry recovered the fumble and returned it 13 yards to the Giants’ 43-yard line. From there, Toney finally got cooking with catches for 11 and 6 yards, and the Giants cashed in when Engram, the subject of trade rumors, crossed in front of safety Daniel Sorenson on a 5-yard touchdown reception, with Jones leading Engram the way he needed to be led. The Giants were ahead 17-14 with 14:53 remaining.
The lead did not last long, but this does not mean the Giants caved in on defense. They forced the Chiefs to need 14 plays to advance 57 yards, stiffened when Mahomes was sacked by Trent Harris — activated off the practice squad earlier in the day — to force a Butker field goal to make it 17-17.
Mahomes was intercepted by Julian Love on the Chiefs’ opening drive — Mahomes’ 10th interception of the season — but that burst of defensive opportunism was doused when Jones on his first pass of the night looked for Darius Slayton but never saw linebacker Willie Gay, who intercepted the ball and returned it to the Giants’ 13-yard line. Four plays later, Mahomes located Hill in the back of the end zone for a 7-0 Chiefs lead.
The mistakes were not only made on defense. Fullback Eli Penny in the fourth quarter celebrated too hard after a 16-yard reception and was called for a taunting penalty to set the Giants back when they were even at 17.
“Tough deal there,’’ Jones said.
They usually are with these Giants.
