Giants blitz Cowboys for stirring win start to John Harbaugh era

All the numbers that tell a sad tale about the Giants now can be filed under the headline “BJH.”

Before John Harbaugh.

You might have heard that the Giants had lost eight straight Week 1 primetime games against the Cowboys since 1986. Or that they hadn’t held an above .500 record in 51 games and 1,331 days.

Or that they were 1-14 in their past 15 games against Dak Prescott. Or that they opened with a loss in eight of the past nine years. Or that they had not won at home in Week 1 since 2010.

None of the past lowlights mattered during an emotional Sunday night at MetLife Stadium as the imperfect but bullish Giants overcame four fumbles, rushed for 166 yards and set up Jaxson Dart to look like a comfortable point guard distributing the ball to tandem weapons Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely in a 28-20 victory.

Harbaugh and this young roster in need of being taught how to win were supposed to combust with a fourth-quarter lead.

But it turns out that multiplying double negatives like Harbaugh’s 18 blown double-digit second-half leads over 18 years with the Ravens — no other head coach has more since at least 1991, though few have enjoyed the longevity or success to coach that many games with a lead — plus the Giants’ five blown fourth-quarter leads last season results in a positive.

The Giants spent the last 110 seconds in the victory formation as a rejuvenated fan base waved its white towels and remembered joyfully that traffic happens in the parking lots here when you don’t head for the exits in the third quarter.

Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy dialed up plays to give Dart (23-for-29 for 230 yards and three touchdowns) uncontested throws all night — and never was it more obvious than on a 65-yard drive that pushed the Giants’ lead to 28-14 with 7:25 remaining.

Nagy kept calling what looked like the same play — a dump-off to third-string running back Devin Singletary in the left flat — and it kept working. Four times in a five-play span the ball was floated into Singletary’s trusty arms — Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy Jr. fumbled — and he carried it across the goal line from 8 yards.

Charged by many pregame 9/11 tributes, the official returns of Odell Beckham Jr. (after his trade in 2019) as well as Nabers and Skattebo (after their season-ending injuries) during pregame introductions, and the sight of Harbaugh on the sideline, the home crowd was bursting during the first quarter.

The energy only picked up on a fourth-and-1 as Prescott fruitlessly tried to draw an offsides penalty with a hard count. It was a three-and-out in the image of old-school Giants defense, which was improved from a year ago under new coordinator Dennard Wilson but did not register a sack with its vaunted pass rush.

The Giants’ two first-half touchdown drives couldn’t have looked less similar.

The first was a 10-play, 83-yard match that chewed more than six minutes off the clock. With a heavy dose of fullback Patrick Ricard paving the way, the Giants ran seven times, including a 22-yard RPO by Dart that was furthered by a 15-yard roughing penalty and Skattebo’s walk-in misdirection 3-yard touchdown.

Of course, Skattebo — playing in his first regular-season game since suffering a gruesome fractured tibia last October — announced his return to the end zone with a handstand into a backflip.

The Giants doubled the Cowboys’ yardage (82-41) and held a 7-2 edge in first downs in a first quarter that made it clear an encore of the 2023 season opener — a humiliating 40-0 home loss — was not in store.

The second touchdown — for a 14-7 halftime lead — came from a two-minute drill that that quieted questions about the Giants having enough pass catchers in the wake of releasing veteran Darius Slayton last week.

Dart completed 5-of-6 passes to four different targets for 60 yards over 29 seconds. He converted a third-and-9 with a 16-yard sideline strike to Nabers, found Darnell Mooney cutting toward the sideline for 18 yards and then went to Likely on back-to-back plays for a 5-yard gain and 15-yard touchdown pass.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had expressed on hometown radio before the game that his biggest concern was “Can we block them up?” It turns out the answer to that was yes — and the bigger concern was on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

The Giants offensive line held its own, especially in allowing Dart and the rushing attack to convert 9-of-10 third downs.

With the Giants clinging to a one-possession lead, Dart had a clean pocket to complete a 5-yard pass on third-and-3 to Likely. The newly imported tight end — who followed Harbaugh from the Ravens — had eight catches for 78 yards on eight targets and half of his receptions converted third downs.

Nabers added six catches for 69 yards.

One play later, Dart kept an RPO and drew a facemask penalty, setting up another first down just before the two-minute warning. Skattebo finished it off with a first-down run with 1:51 to go as the offensive linemen waved their arms toward the late-staying crowd.