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Giants vs. Bills: Postgame notes and stats

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Notes and statistics from the Giants' 28-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills in MetLife Stadium:

*The Giants fell to 0-2 for the third season in row and fifth time in six years.

*The Giants lost their third consecutive home opener and fell to 50-42-3 in a season's first home game. That includes a 3-7 record in MetLife.

*The Giants are 0-2 in home openers vs. Buffalo; they also lost in 1996.

*The Giants scored on their first offensive possession for the second week in a row, on Saquon Barkley's 27-yard run on the game's fifth play. Last week in Dallas, their opening series ended with Eli Manning's one-yard touchdown pass to Evan Engram.

In 2018, the Giants twice scored opening-drive touchdowns in back-to-back games. They first did it on Sept. 23 at Houston (on Barkley's 15-yard run) and Sept. 30 vs. New Orleans (on Manning's two-yard pass to Sterling Shepard) and repeated the feat on Nov. 18 vs. Tampa Bay and Nov. 25 at Philadelphia (Manning passes of six and 13 yards to Barkley).

*The Giants are 2-5 under Pat Shurmur when they score a touchdown on their opening possession.

*Barkley rushed for 107 yards on 18 carries and caught three passes for 28 yards. It was his ninth 100-yard rushing performance in 18 career games, and his 15th game with at least 100 scrimmage yards.

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*Barkley has 98 receptions in 18 career games. He fell two catches short of tying Carolina's Christian McCaffrey for the fewest games needed to reach 100 catches.

*Eli Manning completed 26 of 45 passes for 250 yards, one touchdown to TJ Jones and his first two interceptions of the season for a passer rating of 62.3.

*The Giants were the first team to throw for more than 210 yards against Buffalo's top-ranked (in 2018) pass defense since New England threw for 324 yards last Oct. 29.

*Manning's four first-quarter passes were all incomplete. It was his first opening quarter without a completion since Dec. 27, 2015 at Minnesota, where he was also 0-for-4 – the previous game in which he started with four consecutive incompletions.

*Manning was intercepted on the final play of the first half when his pass for Bennie Fowler III was blocked by rookie defensive tackle Ed Oliver and caught by defensive end Trent Murphy. That ended Manning's streak of passes without an interception dating back to last season at exactly 100.

*The Giants played without their top two wide receivers: Sterling Shepard (concussion) and Golden Tate (NFL suspension). They lost another wideout, Cody Latimer, in the second half with a concussion.

*Tight end Evan Engram led the Giants in receptions for the second week in a row, with six for 48 yards. Bennie Fowler III had a team-high 51 receiving yards on five catches. Jones, Latimer, Barkley and Cody Core each had three catches.

*Jones, who was re-signed last week, and Core each caught their first passes in a Giants uniform.

*Jones scored on a four-yard pass from Manning with 11:56 remaining in the fourth quarter. He has scored in two consecutive games in which he's played; Jones had two touchdown receptions for the Detroit Lions on passes from Matthew Stafford in the 2018 season finale at Green Bay.

*Fowler gained 20 yards after taking a handoff from Manning on the game's second play. The rushing attempt was the first of Fowler's five-year career. It was the longest run by a Giants wide receiver since Sterling Shepard's 27-yard at San Francisco on Nov. 12, 2018.

*Aldrick Rosas missed a 48-yard field goal attempt with 1:49 remaining in the second quarter, ending his streak of 20 consecutive successes, the second-longest in Giants history. In 2018, Rosas' only miss in 33 attempts was a 52-yard try vs. Philadelphia on Oct. 11.

*The Giants recorded their first three sacks of the season. On their second defensive snap, linebackers Markus Golden and Lorenzo Carter combined to tackle Josh Allen for a seven-yard loss.

Golden and rookie Oshane Ximines sacked Allen for a four-yard loss in the third quarter. It was Ximines' first career sack.

*Reserve lineman Olsen Pierre sacked Allen for a five-yard loss in the third quarter, his first sack since Dec 31, 2017 when, as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, he tackled Seattle's Russell Wilson for a 17-yard loss.

*The Giants did not force a turnover for the second game in a row.

*Jones' 60-yard punt return in the second quarter was the longest by a Giants player since Dec. 6, 2015, when Dwayne Harris had an 80-yard return for a touchdown.

*Two rookie defensive draft choices made their first career starts: first-round selection DeAndre Baker at left cornerback and fifth-round choice Ryan Connelly at inside linebacker. Baker had three solo tackles, while Connelly had six stops (three solo).

*Safety Antoine Bethea led the Giants with 10 tackles (five solo). Cornerback Janoris Jenkins had seven solo stops.

*Josh Allen scored the Bills' first touchdown on a six-yard run in the first quarter. He was the first quarterback to rush for a touchdown against the Giants since Dec. 9, 2018, when Washington's Josh Johnson scored on an eight-yard run.

*Buffalo's third touchdown – on Allen's short flip to Isaiah McKenzie, who turned it into a 14-yard score – capped a 98-yard drive that was the longest by a Giants opponent since the Chiefs' 98-yard possession at Kansas City on Sept. 29, 2013. It was the longest opposing possession by yardage in a Giants home game since Jan. 1, 2012, when Dallas scored on a 94-yard drive. The Cowboys traveled 93 yards on their way to a touchdown in the season opener last week.

*Riley Dixon's 58-yard punt in the second quarter was his longest since a 60-yarder against New Orleans on Sept. 20, 2018.

*Rookie linebacker Tuzar Skipper made his NFL debut. Jones played in his first game for the Giants.

*The Giants inactive players were wide receivers Sterling Shepard (concussion) and Darius Slayton (hamstring), tight end Garrett Dickerson (quad), quarterback Alex Tanney, running back Paul Perkins, and offensive linemen Chad Slade and Eric Smith.

Shepard was inactive for the first time since the 2017 season finale vs. Washington, which he missed with a neck injury.

*The Bills, who defeated the Jets last week, played in MetLife for the second week in a row. Since the NFL merger, this was the eighth time a team played back to back road games in the same stadium (all vs. the Giants and Jets). This was the first time the consecutive games in the same venue started the season. The previous team to do it was Baltimore in 2016. Miami will play the Jets and Giants here in consecutive games on Dec. 8 and 15.

*The Giants had won their previous three games vs. the Bills and lost to them for the first time since Nov. 20, 2003. Buffalo leads the all-time series, 7-6.

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