Daniel Jones looks lost as Giants go right back to being miserable in Week 1 embarrassment against 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 dropped pass by rookie tight end Theo Johnson.

There were glorious blue skies and a pleasant autumn crispness in the air, and the fans at MetLife Stadium were already souring on the home team.

The catcalls and jeering never really stopped in a brutal 28-6 beatdown by the Vikings, a dismal introduction to 2024 that made it hard to envision better times ahead.

Thus the booing, early and often.

“I don’t respect it, honestly,’’ defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said in a stone-silent locker room after the deed was done. “I get it, they want to see their team win. It’s just a rough patch.’’

Is it? What this franchise is going through is more than a rough patch and Jones was so bad it felt not like the start of a new season but more so the continuation of a rotten old season.

Judging from the general state of disgust and sense of bleak inevitability circulating within the confines of a packed stadium, this felt like game No. 18 of the sorry 2023 season.

Giants fans quickly running out of patience for Daniel Jones

And thus, the booing.

“I think it’s our job to give them something to cheer about and to play well, to execute,’’ Jones said. “We take that seriously. They expect us to play well, we expect to play well. We’ve got to do that.’’

Jones, entering a make-or-break season, looked lost. You could forgive rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers if he thought to himself, “What am I getting myself into here?’’

Nabers finished with five catches for 66 yards.

“Daniel said he was trying to give me the ball,’’ Nabers said. “He saw a lot of people in his face. I mean, I cannot control that.’’

Giants fans already feel the season is over after just one horrendous game

The Giants allowed Jets/Panthers/49ers castoff Sam Darnold to come in and shred them.

He completed his first 12 throws, tossed touchdown passes to Justin Jefferson and Jalen Nailor to create a 21-3 lead and did not have to do any heavy lifting at all after Jones fired an embarrassing interception into the hands of linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel for a pick-six late in the third quarter.

Jones barely functioned. He completed 22 of 42 for 186 yards and two interceptions and was scatter-armed, firing the ball this way, that way and far too often into the turf.

“Yeah, I just got to keep my balance and make a good, accurate throw,’’ Jones said. “So, I’m going to look at that and need to correct it.’’

There were all sorts of franchise legends — Lawrence Taylor, Eli Manning, Phil Simms, Bill Parcells, Tom Coughlin, among others — in the house, continuing the 100th season celebration and all sorts of lousy football put on display by the current team.

This was a dismal showing in head coach Brian Daboll’s debut as the play-caller on offense and a dismal showing en masse for a group that went into the season hearing the assembled roster was one of the NFL’s worst. After this, even the most bright-eyed Giants fans cannot have much faith.

“When you lose, you’re always disappointed,’’ Daboll said. “Had a good week of prep. Came out, didn’t get the job done today and that falls on me.’’

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The first series on defense produced a turnover when rookie cornerback Dru Phillips on his first NFL snap put a hit on C.J. Ham, causing a fumble that was recovered by Bobby Okereke on the Vikings 21-yard line. That wonderful field position did not amount to much and the end-result was a Graham Gano field goal for a 3-0 lead.

The Vikings hit for touchdowns on their next two possessions. A 36-yard pass interference penalty on Adoree’ Jackson — signed this past week and, seemingly, rusty — on Jordan Addison led to Aaron Jones’ 3-yard scoring run.

Next, the Vikes marched 99 yards on 11 plays to take a 14-3 lead. Jefferson beat Deonte Banks on a 44-yard deep ball and on fourth down, Darnold drilled a pass into Jefferson’s midsection, with Banks draped over him but unable to prevent the touchdown.

Meanwhile, Jones and the offense were a nightmarish mess. There were boos when Jones was dragged down for a 1-yard loss on third down.

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

By the end, there was no more booing. The fans were long gone by then.

“It’s frustrating because a lot goes into a season and a season opener and we all wanted to come out there and play well, especially kicking off the Giants’ 100th season,’’ receiver Darius Slayton said. “We all wanted to come out and have a better showing than that and we obviously didn’t do that.’’

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