On Sunday night, the New York Giants were on the verge of upsetting the Bills in Buffalo, but two unsuccessful goal-line drives prevented them from doing so.
In Sunday’s 14-9 road loss, Big Blue ended each half at the Bills’ 1-yard-line. The botched first-half situation appears the more egregious.
The Bills incurred a penalty in the end zone, resulting in New York gaining possession of the ball at the 1-yard line with just 14 seconds left in the second quarter. Despite having no timeouts remaining, the Giants had the opportunity for a few end zone attempts and at the very least, a guaranteed short-distance field goal that could have given them a 9-0 lead at halftime. However, they ended up with nothing.
Veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor, playing for the injured Daniel Jones (neck), checked to a Saquon Barkley run play, which was stuffed. The Giants couldn’t get out of the pile quick enough to spike it before the clock ran out.
After the loss, Head Coach Brian Daboll stated tersely via the official transcript, “We had called a run action pass play, but ended up changing it to a run. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to execute it.” He further explained, “Based on the look he saw from the play we had called, he decided to change it.”
Taylor accepted responsibility for altering a play, explaining that his rationale was the belief that they could execute a spike before time expired if the run was unsuccessful.
He acknowledged, “Indeed, reflecting on it, I definitely shouldn’t have made that decision. I was alerted to a run and thought I saw a beneficial situation for us, but it wasn’t the right call. As the quarterback, the leader, and the one conveying everything to everyone, the responsibility falls on me. I need to improve in such situations.”
The Giants’ missed opportunity cost them a minimum of three points that could have been beneficial during the final drive when they were five points behind. Although the second half would have played out differently, had Big Blue scored before halftime, they might not have needed a touchdown to secure the win.
On the final possession, Taylor drove New York 48 yards to the 1-yard-line yet again. After another Bills penalty in the end zone led to an untimed down, the QB couldn’t connect with Darren Waller with a defender draped all over the tight end, and New York fell to 1-5.
Looking back, it would have been advantageous if Taylor had switched the two end-of-half scenarios, signaling a run on the final play. However, Daboll justified sticking with a pass due to previous short-yardage blockages.
“We had some debate about it, but considering we’d been halted on two third-and-1s,” he stated, “and that we’d been stopped at the goal line at the end of the half, I believed that (offensive coordinator) Mike (Kafka) made a good call.”
Despite regularly suffering heavy losses this season, Sunday night’s defeat could have been the hardest for the fans of the club. Taylor put up a decent performance on the whole. Buffalo was kept at bay by the defense until the fourth quarter. Barkley’s comeback breathed life into the running game. However, Daboll’s team failed to score a touchdown for the 13th consecutive quarter, falling short in the crucial moments.
