The New York Giants did not look pretty on Sunday, and they did not have to. Playing their first game without Jaxson Dart in a driving rain at MetLife Stadium, they held off the Tennessee Titans, 12-7, and improved to 2-1.
Four field goals from Dominic Zvada built a 12-0 lead. Tennessee finally scored on a four-yard Cam Ward pass to Wan'Dale Robinson with 5:35 remaining. The Titans then reached the Giants' 7-yard line with 24 seconds left. Ward threw into the end zone and Jevon Holland intercepted it with 17 seconds on the clock.
That last play is what the locker room kept coming back to.
"That was a great win. A year ago, we lose that game. 100 percent. This year, we were able to pull through," running back Cam Skattebo told reporters.
Right tackle
Jermaine Eluemunor did not leave any room for argument.
"We lose that game last year. No question. There’s no debate. We lose that game," he said. "But we didn’t."
They had the receipts. The 2025 Giants finished 4-13 and spent the year giving games away late. They blew five double-digit leads, including a 19-point fourth-quarter collapse in Denver that ended 33-32 and a 27-17 advantage with 12 minutes left in Detroit that became a 34-27 overtime loss. Seven of their 13 losses were decided by a single possession.
Holland, whose third interception of the season sealed this one, refused to treat that history as relevant.
"This is 2026 and the last previous years have nothing to do with us," he said.
The difference this time was finishing. Jameis Winston managed the weather. The defense bent after halftime but made the last play. Under John Harbaugh, the Giants are 2-0 at home and still standing after a week that began with Dart's season-ending knee surgery.
"That's what winning is," Harbaugh told the locker room after the game. "It doesn't have to be pretty; it doesn't have to be perfect. It's going to get better because we're going to make sure it's better. . . But you find a way to win the game. Somebody in the fourth quarter in the National Football League has to make a play to win the game."
Ugly wins used to slip away. This one stayed.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants learning how to win: 'We lose that game' in 2025
