Daniel Jones looks lost as Giants go right back to being miserable in Week 1 embarrassment against Vikings

Was this the start of a new season or simply the continuation of a rotten old season?

Judging from the jeers and boos and the general state of disgust and sense of bleak inevitability circulating within the confines of MetLife Stadium on Sunday, this felt like game No. 18 of the sorry 2023 season for the Giants and not the ushering in of anything fresh or improved in any way, shape of form. It actually looked and felt worse, especially for Daniel Jones and a supposedly more explosive offense that was a dud from start to finish.

Jones, entering a make-or-break season, looked lost. You could forgive rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers if he thought to himself “What am I getting myself into here?’’

Nabers finished with five catches for 66 yards.

The Giants allowed Jets/Panthers/49ers castoff Sam Darnold to come into the building and shred them. He completed his first 12 passes and looked entirely too comfortable in the pocket. It was all Vikings, all the time as the Giants fell, hard, in their season opener, 28-6, on a picture-perfect afternoon that offered hints of autumn and foreshadows a long, cruel winter ahead for the Giants.

There were all sorts of franchise legends and greats in the building, continuing the 100th season celebration and all sorts of lousy football put on display by the current team. This was a dismal showing in head coach Brian Daboll’s debut as the play-caller on offense and a dismal showing en masse for a group that went into the season hearing the assembled roster was one of the NFL’s worst. After this, even the most bright-eyed Giants fans cannot have much faith.

It got so bad that early in the fourth quarter, the lower bowl of the stadium was mostly occupied by Vikings fans, who delighted in clapping their hands together for the Skol chant that is usually reserved for back home in Minneapolis.

Jones heard all offseason how the Giants wanted to trade up in the NFL draft to replace him and he knows the Giants will part ways with him unless he delivers. He was dreadful in his first game out of the chute, completing only 22 of 42 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions. By way of comparison, Darnold was 19 of 24 for 208 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

The Giants actually led 3-0, but they were never really in this one, at all. A 14-3 halftime deficit became 21-3 when Darnold found Jalen Nailor, who had no trouble running away from Cor’Dale Flott for a 21-yard scoring strike. It was 21-6 late in the third quarter when Jones on first down on his own 17-yard line looked to his right for Robinson but never got the ball near him. Instead, linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel came away with a gift interception and ran it in from 10 yards out for a pick-six to make it 28-6 and raise the decibel level of unrest to deafening volume.

The first series of the season on offense caused that familiar dull ache to the senses. Jones’ first pass was behind Devin Singletary for a loss of six yards, followed by a delay of game penalty. On third-and-19, rookie tight end Theo Johnson had a drop. There was actually more than a hint of boos circulating inside the building, less than two minutes into the season. Yikes.

It did not get a whole lot better in the first quarter. The first series on defense produced a turnover when rookie cornerback Dru Phillips on his first NFL snap put a hit on C.J. Ham, causing a fumble that was recovered by Bobby Okereke on the Vikings 21-yard line. That wonderful field position did not amount to much and the end result was a Graham Gano field goal for a 3-0 lead.

The Vikings hit for touchdowns on their next two possessions. A 36-yard pass interference penalty on Adoree’ Jackson — signed this past week and, seemingly, rusty — for running into Jordan Addison led to Aaron Jones’ 3-yard scoring run. Next, the Vikes marched 99 yards on 11 plays to take a 14-3 lead, with Justin Jefferson beating Deonte Banks on a 44-yard deep ball. On fourth down, Darnold drilled a pass into Jefferson’s midsection, with Banks draped over him but unable to prevent the touchdown.

Meanwhile, Jones and the offense were a nightmarish mess. There were boos when Jones was dragged down for a 1-yard loss on third down. There were boos when Jones threw behind Johnson, boos when Jones threw a bouncer to Wan’Dale Robinson and really, really loud boos as the Giants jogged off the field at the half.