A familiar script played out again for the Giants on Sunday. They built a 27-17 fourth-quarter lead in Detroit, piled up points and explosive plays, then still walked off with a 34-27 overtime loss to the Lions. It was their fifth defeat this season after leading by at least 10 points, tying an NFL record and dropping them to 2-10 overall with a 12-game road losing streak.
The bitterness is worse because the offense finally looked alive. As Pat Leonard pointed out, this was the first time the Giants topped 517 total yards since December 22, 2019, when Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley helped Pat Shurmur’s unit reach 552 yards, per Elias Sports. This time it was Jameis Winston at the controls, directing Mike Kafka’s playbook to chunk gains all over the field.
Winston hit Wan’Dale Robinson on an early trick-play bomb, fed Isaiah Hodgins in the red zone, then even caught a 33-yard touchdown himself on another gadget call from Gunner Olszewski.
He finished with 366 passing yards, two passing scores, and that receiving TD, while Tyrone Tracy Jr. added 62 rushing yards and 68 receiving yards. In total, New York posted 517 yards, 25 first downs, and controlled the ball for more than 33 minutes.
The defense could not match that level. Short-handed in the secondary and without Kayvon Thibodeaux, the Giants were shredded by Jahmyr Gibbs, who ripped off a long fourth-quarter touchdown to spark Detroit’s comeback and then ended the game on the first play of overtime. A 59-yard field goal in the final minute of regulation had already erased New York’s double-digit cushion.
The cumulative collapses cost defensive coordinator Shane Bowen his job, as Kafka dismissed the Daboll holdover after yet another blown lead. For now, the Giants are left with a strange combination: an offense finally hitting Saquon-era yardage numbers and a defense that keeps turning big days into crushing losses.
