Giants takeaways from Sunday's 14-9 loss to Bills, including a spirited effort by the defense

The Giants were widely expected to be blown out on Sunday, but instead surprised everyone by pushing one of the AFC’s best teams to the limit. A late touchdown gave the Bills the win, but they had to hang on at the end.

Facing a Buffalo team considered by many to be a Super Bowl contender, without its quarterback and most of their starting offensive line, New York forced a couple of first half turnovers and kept the Bills off the board as a pair of Graham Gano field goals gave them their first halftime lead of the season.

The lead lasted throughout the third quarter, but Buffalo took the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter, as Josh Allen found Deonte Harty on a short touchdown pass to cap a 17-play, 89-yard drive that took almost 10 minutes off the clock.

The Giants responded almost immediately, recapturing a 9-7 lead on another Gano field goal after an eight-play drive that featured some good running by the returning Saquon Barkley.

However, the Bills went back ahead 14-9 on a 12-play drive that Allen completed with a touchdown pass to backup tight end Quintin Morris with 3:48 remaining.

After failing to score on their next possession, the Giants got one last chance when Tyler Bass missed his second field goal of the game with 1:25 to go. Taylor drove New York down to the 10-yard line with two seconds left and a pass-interference penalty gave them a chance to run one play on an untimed down from the 1-yard line, but his pass to Darren Waller fell incomplete.

Here are the key takeaways…

- The Giants still haven’t scored an offensive touchdown before halftime all season, but going into the halftime break with a lead is an unexpected step in the right direction. They blew their best chance, though, when they got down to the goal line in the closing seconds of the half only for the clock to run out following a Barkley run that was stopped for no gain. New York should have led 13-0, or at least 9-0, and Brian Daboll was visibly upset with Taylor.

- Barkley’s return obviously provided the Giants with a boost, even without Daniel Jones in the lineup. Barkley didn’t have much success early, as he gained just 14 yards on his first 13 carries. He got going towards the end of the first half, though, and finished up with 93 yards on 24 carries.

- Taylor had more success making plays down the field than Jones had been having in recent weeks, perhaps benefiting from the threat of Barkley. Darius Slayton had two downfield catches and drew a key pass-interference penalty in the first half while Wan’Dale Robinson caught eight passes to lead the team. Waller had just one catch until late in the fourth quarter but ended up with five.

- The Giants had pieced together their offensive line due to all the injuries and were forced into yet another change when left tackle Joshua Ezeudu went down with yet another injury. Veteran Justin Pugh, who only just rejoined the team, was moved to left tackle to protect Taylor’s blindside. To their credit, the Giants only gave up two sacks.

- The Giants’ defense had an impressive first half, holding the Bills to 1-for-5 on third down and forcing two turnovers. Bobby Okereke continued his recent solid play by forcing a fumble that Micah McFadden recovered and then followed that up by tipping a pass into the air which McFadden intercepted.

- Allen was held to just 87 passing yards in the first half. However, he went 11 for 12 after halftime, missing only on a late rollout that would have iced the game. Despite Allen’s slow start, Stefon Diggs still had 69 of his 100 yards before halftime.

- There was a wild scuffle towards the end of the third quarter. It saw four personal fouls assessed. While it’s good to see the Giants players standing up for each other, they were obviously also frustrated at not being able to stop the Bills’ time-consuming drive and they gave up the go-ahead score just a few plays later.

- There was also a lengthy delay towards the end of the second quarter after a scary-looking apparent neck injury for Bills running back Damien Harris. As he was stretchered onto an ambulance before leaving the field, Harris was at least able to give a thumbs-up sign and was reported to have movement in his extremities soon afterward.

Highlights

What's next

The Giants return home and host the Washington Commanders on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Week 7.