Giants pull off biggest comeback win since 1949, beat Cardinals to avoid 0-2 start

If you had the New York Giants in your survival pool, you probably gave up on that entry about a dozen times Sunday afternoon. 

The Giants looked absolutely terrible to start their game against the Arizona Cardinals. They were down 20 points at halftime. They scored, finally this season, early in the third quarter but the Cardinals answered right back. The Giants trailed by 21, and had not come back to win after trailing by 20 or more since Nov. 19, 1950 vs. the Baltimore Colts, according to Fox Sports. They hadn't come back from 21 down since 1949, when they did it against the Chicago Cardinals, the network said. 

Your survival pool entry lives to play another week. And the Giants get to avoid a long, long week of turmoil. The Giants scored 24 straight points to end the game and won 31-28, avoiding what would have been a miserable 0-2 start. 

For a long time during Sunday's game, the Giants looked like the laughingstock of the NFL. 

They lost 40-0 last week vs. the Dallas Cowboys, then started Sunday's game with the same energy. The streak got to 60 unanswered points for Giants opponents before New York finally scored. According to NFL RedZone, the last team to get outscored at least 60-0 to start a season was the 1978 Baltimore Colts, who were outscored 80-0 in the first two games of their season.

The Giants finally showed some signs of life early in the third quarter. Daniel Jones hit a 58-yard pass to Jalin Hyatt, then Jones got a 14-yard rushing touchdown to finally put the Giants on the board for the first time since last season. But after a Giants interception was taken off the board due to a pass interference penalty, Arizona scored and got the two-point conversion to build their lead back up to 28-7.

Had the Giants gone to 0-2, with a horrific loss to the Cowboys followed by a loss to the Cardinals, who are expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL, Giants fans would have lost their minds. They made the playoffs last season. The future looked bright. Starting in that fashion would have made for an interesting week in that market. 

Then Jones got hot. He dragged his team back in the game. That's why he got a four-year, $160 million deal in the offseason. Jones finished with 321 yards and two touchdowns, with another 59 yards rushing. Saquon Barkley helped, scoring twice. Barkley did limp to the bench on the Giants' final drive of the game. Jones hit Isaiah Hodgins after a holding penalty near the goal line pushed the Giants back, and that tied the game. The defense kept getting stops, and Jones took the Giants into field-goal range to get a surprise win. 

They hit the go-ahead field goal with 19 seconds left, then avoided a Hail Mary miracle to win. It probably made for a much, much better plane ride home than what it could have been when they were down by 21 points.