Giants had an upset win within reach, but ‘you don’t get trophies for trying’

The Giants weren’t supposed to be in a position to run one play from Buffalo’s 1-yard line to beat the Bills on Sunday night. They weren’t supposed to be in a position to steal an upset win without their starting quarterback and with an offensive line missing three starters and a veteran signed "off the couch" thrust into playing left tackle.

And when Tyrod Taylor lofted the game’s final pass on an untimed down, it looked like one of the season's most improbable wins was going to be won right at the death. But Darren Waller, while fighting through a jersey tug and contact that was deemed to be legal, failed to come down with the ball, sealing the Giants’ 14-9 defeat.

“You don’t get trophies for trying,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “... Came down to one yard, just missed it. Didn’t get it.”

He added: “We competed, I thought we competed hard right down, obviously, till the end. Jump ball there to try to win it.”

Daboll thought offensive coordinator Mike Kafka “had the right play called … just didn’t hit on it.”

"It was a run-action pass,” he said of the final play, “double-team run where we’re hoping they would all suck up on Saquon and give a one-on-one to Darren Waller.”

Taylor took responsibility for the incompletion. 

"It could have been a better ball, tried to get one of our best playmakers the opportunity to make a play in that situation and we didn't execute and it starts with me," he said.

Waller, who drew a pass interference call in the end zone on the previous play that extended the game, wasn’t going to complain about not getting a second flag despite replays showing Bills cornerback Taron Johnson grabbing his jersey as he reached for Taylor's pass.

"There was contact,” Waller said. “But I'm not somebody that's going to get into what a call should have been or telling officials how to do their job because there's a way for me to make that play there and it wasn't made, so that's what I focus on."

For the Giants, Sunday was their fourth straight loss and their third straight game without scoring an offensive touchdown -- and the inefficiency in the red zone was the difference. 

“They were two-of-two in the red zone and we got it down there [five] times and we didn’t put it in,” Daboll said. “So that’s really the difference in the game, the ability to punch it in in the red zone.”

Of course, the game’s final play was the second time on Sunday that New York failed to convert from Buffalo’s one. The first came as time expired in the first half after a first-down run by Saquon Barkley was stopped behind the line of scrimmage and the Giants failed to recover to get another snap off in time.

The head coach said the offense had “a run-action pass play” called, but the quarterback “ended up alerting it to a run and didn’t get it off.”

Taylor said he alerted to the run when he "thought he saw a look that was beneficial for us and it wasn't the right call. That falls on me, as a quarterback, as a leader, as the one that's communicating everything to everyone, gotta be better in that situation."

That experience to end the first half influenced the game’s final play, as there was some thought about giving Barkley a second chance. But Daboll said that since they had “been stopped on two third-and-ones, stopped on the goal line at the end of the half,” they went with the pass. “I thought it was a good call by Mike,” he added.

“It came down to a yard,” Daboll said. “Obviously there were a few more plays in there, but I thought Tyrod, I thought the guys battled. Tough environment, great atmosphere. Just came up a yard short.”

In the end, the Giants fell to 1-5 on the season. And while Daboll appreciated the team's effort, especially the recently-signed Justin Pugh going from the practice squad to the starting lineup and then in at left tackle when Josh Ezeudu exited due to injury, the slight improvement means little in the results-based industry of the NFL.

“We didn’t get the job done in terms of finishing and getting the win, but they had the right mindset,” he said. “We’ve done a good job of taking care of the ball … we’re making small strides, but we don’t really wanna hear about small strides, we wanna get the results. And that’s what we’re gonna work for.”