Giants-Patriots final score: New York falls short, 22-20

The New York Giants fell, 22-20, to the New England Patriots in their final preseason game on Sunday night at MetLife Stadium.

The Giants finished the preseason with an 0-3 record. Joe Judge played most of the starters on both offense and defense for the first half. The offense made familiar mistakes including failing to protect up-front and dropped passes in the receiving corps, while the defense continued to look strong overall.

The Patriots jumped out to an early 3-0 lead when Nick Folk converted a 41-yard field goal at 10:07 in the first quarter.

With under two minutes left in the first quarter, Cam Newton threw a pass over the deep middle of the field that was intercepted by Blake Martinez at the Patriots 41-yard line to give the Giants back the ball. Jones led the Giants down the field, but on third-and-goal on the 1-yard line, his pass intended for Evan Engram was intercepted by D’Angelo Ross and the Giants came away with nothing.

With first-round pick Mac Jones in at quarterback for New England, the Patriots drove down the field to get themselves in field goal position. Quinn Nordin kicked a 48-yard field goal at 6:58 in the second quarter to extend the Patriots’ lead to 6-0.

With about two minutes to play in the first half, Jones was efficient in a two-minute drill. After running the ball himself to convert a third-and-2 on the Patriots 23-yard line, Jones completed a touchdown pass to Kaden Smith with 31 seconds to play in the half, giving the Giants a 7-6 advantage. The scoring drive was nine plays and 58 yards. On the two-minute drive, Jones completed 7 of 8 passes for 55 yards and his one incompletion was a throwaway because no one was open.

Two important Giants players were injured in the first half with tight end Evan Engram (calf) and wide receiver Darius Slayton (ankle/foot) both being removed from the game.

The Giants first-team defense was taken out of the game after the first half.

On the Patriots’ opening drive of the second half, Mac Jones completed a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Zuber at 12:16 in the third quarter. The Giants stopped the Patriots from converting the two-point conversion, making the score 12-7.

Backup quarterback Mike Glennon entered the game for New York in the second half.

The Patriots widened their lead to 19-7 when running back Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for a nine-yard touchdown at 9:09 in the third quarter, completing a four-play, 50-yard scoring drive.

On the Giants’ following drive, Glennon led the team to within field goal range but kicker Graham Gano, who was 31 of 32 in field goals last season, missed the 41-yard kick and New York came away empty-handed. Earlier in the drive, Glennon overthrew a wide-open David Sills on what should have been a 58-yard touchdown.

Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Glennon completed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Alex Bachman in the top corner of the end zone to complete a seven-play, 77-yard scoring drive and make the score, 19-14. On the drive, fullback Elijhaa Penny had three carries for 32 yards, plus an additional 15 after drawing a face mask penalty.

With 6:23 to go in the game, Nordin converted a 37-yard field goal to widen the Patriots’ lead to 22-14.

The Giants got the ball back with 27 seconds left in the game. Glennon completed a 43-yard touchdown pass to Damion Willis with eight seconds to go. New York was unable to convert the two-point conversion, though, as Glennon’s pass intended for Dante Pettis fell incomplete.

Stats

In his first half of play, Daniel Jones was 17 of 22 for 135 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Backup QB Mike Glennon finished the game 9 of 17 for 147 yards and two touchdowns.

In the run game, Eli Penny had four rushing attempts for 35 yards. Corey Clement recorded 24 rushing yards on four attempts.

Wide receiver Damion Willis had three catches for 70 yards and one touchdown. Sterling Shepard finished the game with six receptions for 42 yards.

Offensive line notes

• Nate Solder got the start at RT for the Giants, getting the nod over Matt Peart. Veteran Ted Larsen started at LG in place of the injured Shane Lemieux.
• On the Giants’ opening drive of the game, Jones was sacked at the Giants’ own 24-yard line for a loss of six yards on third down. The Patriots sent four rushers who managed to overpower the five on New York’s line. Former first-round pick Andrew Thomas was beaten on the play at left tackle, resulting in the sack. Thomas allowed another sack on the Giants’ second offensive series and would get called for a holding penalty later in the half. New York did not allow a sack through the first three quarters of last Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.

Worth noting

• Second-round pick Azeez Ojulari, who has been limited in practice, saw action on defense in the game.
• The Giants receiving corps struggled with drops last season. On third-and-13 on the Patriots’ 40-yard line, Jones’ pass to Darius Slayton went right through his hands. Slayton was called for offensive pass interference on the Giants’ next offensive possession and was temporarily removed from the game.
• Linebacker Carter Coughlin got some reps at inside linebacker next to Blake Martinez.

Injuries

• Tight end Evan Engram left the game in the second quarter with a calf injury.
• Wide receiver Darius Slayton left the game after the first half with an ankle/foot injury.
• Offensive lineman Ted Larsen was ruled out of the game in the fourth quarter with a knee injury.

What’s next?

The Giants will open their regular season slate when they host the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 4:25 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FOX.