Daniel Jones looks lost as the Giants are beaten by the Vikings

It started early.

How early? Less than two minutes into Sunday's season opener, after the first series for Daniel Jones and the Giants went like this: Devin Singletary for 2 yards, Jones to Singletary for a loss of 6 yards, a delay of game penalty and a dropped pass from rookie tight end Theo Johnson.

The sky was bright blue, the air was pleasantly cool and autumnal, and the fans in MetLife Stadium were already pretty annoyed with the home team.

The boos and jeers never really stopped during the Vikings' brutal 28-6 loss, a dismal start to 2024 that made it hard to imagine better times.

Hence the early and frequent booing.

“Honestly, I don't respect that,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said in the stony silence of the locker room after the deed was done. “I understand, they want their team to win. It's just a rough patch.”

Is that it? What this franchise is going through is more than just a dry spell, and Jones was so bad that it didn't feel like the start of a new season, but more like the continuation of a crappy old season.

Judging by the general disgust and sense of grim inevitability that prevailed in the packed stadium, this felt like the 18th game of the sad 2023 season.

And hence the booing.

“I think it's our job to give them something to cheer about and play well and perform,” Jones said. “We take this seriously. They expect us to play well and we expect us to play well. That's what we have to do.”

Jones, entering a crucial season, looked lost. Rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers could be forgiven for thinking, “What am I getting myself into?”

Nabers finished with five catches for 66 yards.

“Daniel said he wanted to give me the ball,” Nabers said. “He saw a lot of people in his face. I mean, I can't control that.”

The Giants allowed Sam Darnold, who had been cut by the Jets/Panthers/49ers, to come in and destroy them.

He completed his first 12 throws, threw touchdown passes to Justin Jefferson and Jalen Nailor to build a 21-3 lead, and didn't have to do any heavy lifting after Jones threw an embarrassing interception late in the third quarter into the hands of linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel for a pick-six.

Jones was barely able to function, completing 22 of 42 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions and was unevenly directed, shooting the ball here and there and into the turf far too often.

“Yeah, I just need to keep my balance and make a good, accurate throw,” Jones said. “So I'll look at that and correct it.”

All sorts of franchise legends – Lawrence Taylor, Eli Manning, Phil Simms, Bill Parcells, Tom Coughlin and others – were in the house to continue the 100th season celebration and relive all sorts of bad football moments from the current team.

This was a dismal showing for head coach Brian Daboll's debut as a playmaker on offense, and a dismal showing overall for a group that came into the season knowing the roster it had assembled was one of the worst in the NFL. After an incident like this, even the most optimistic Giants fans can't have much faith.

“When you lose, you're always disappointed,” said Daboll. “I had a good week of preparation. I came out, didn't do my job today and that's my fault.”

The first series on defense resulted in a turnover when rookie cornerback Dru Phillips hit CJ Ham on his first NFL snap, causing a fumble that Bobby Okereke recovered at the Vikings' 21-yard line. That wonderful field position didn't lead to much and the end result was a Graham Gano field goal for a 3-0 lead.

The Vikings scored touchdowns on their next two possessions. A 36-yard pass interference penalty on Adoree' Jackson — who was only signed last week and appears to no longer be playing — on Jordan Addison led to Aaron Jones' 3-yard touchdown run.

The Vikes then marched 99 yards in 11 plays to take a 14-3 lead. Jefferson beat Deonte Banks with a 44-yard deep ball and on fourth down, Darnold slammed a pass into Jefferson's belly with Banks on top of him but unable to prevent the touchdown.

Meanwhile, Jones and the offense were a nightmarish mess. There were boos when Jones was tackled to the ground on third down and lost a yard.

There were boos when Jones threw behind Johnson, boos when Jones threw a bouncer to Wan'Dale Robinson, and really, really loud boos when the Giants jogged off the field at halftime.

At the end there was no more booing. The fans had long since left.

“It's frustrating because a lot goes into a season and a season opener and we all wanted to go out and play well, especially to kick off the Giants' 100th season,” receiver Darius Slayton said. “We all wanted to go out and perform better and we obviously didn't do that.”