ORCHARD PARK — One yard at the end of the first half.
One yard at the end of the game.
The Giants needed one more yard.
The first time, they ran when they should have passed.
The second time, they passed when they might have run it.
“It came down to a yard,” coach Brian Daboll said wistfully “We came up a yard short.”
Twice.
For the first time this season, the Giants battled in a game that they ultimately lost.
They were not blown out Sunday night.
They also failed to win, coming up painfully short, despite battling with the heavily favored Bills on near-even terms in a 14-9 loss at Highmark Stadium.
“You don’t get trophies for trying,” Daboll said.
This one went to the wire.
From the Buffalo 1-yard line, with one untimed play, with time expired after as the Bills were called for pass interference in the end zone, Tyrod Taylor faked a handoff to Saquon Barkley and threw a jump ball to 6-foot-6 tight end Darren Waller in the end zone.
Waller could not disengage from 5-foot-11 Taron Johnson, the ball glanced off his hand and that was that.
There was enough contact for a penalty flag but none was thrown.
“All you can ask for is a chance to make a play like that for your team,” Waller said. “It’s disappointing it didn’t happen the way I wanted and the team would have wanted.”
Waller would not say if he thought he was interfered with.
“Thinking back I may have wasted a little bit more effort trying to push him away as opposed to just going up and getting the football,” he said.
Taylor, starting in place of injured Daniel Jones, said “I think you answered your own question” when asked if Waller had trouble disengaging from the defender.
“It’s tough to go out on that one, especially since we did so much to get down there,” Taylor said.
The Giants fell to 1-5 and lost their fourth consecutive game.
Inexcusably, they blew a huge chance to take control of the game in the waning seconds of the first half.
Leading 6-0, they had the ball at their own 41-yard line with 2:23 remaining after a Micah McFadden interception (off a deflection by Bobby Okereke) and a 30-yard lob from Taylor to Darius Slayton created a real scoring threat.
A pass interference penalty on cornerback Kaiir Elam put the ball on the Buffalo 1-yard line with 14 seconds left in the half, but the Giants were out of timeouts.
There was not enough time for a failed rushing attempt but there was time for or perhaps two passes before settling for a field goal.
Incredibly, Taylor handed the ball off to Barkley, who ran to the right and was dropped for no gain.
The Giants rushed to the line to run another play but time expired.
As the Bills gleefully ran off the field, Daboll, animated and incensed, lit into Taylor.
The play call from offensive coordinator Mike Kafka was a pass but Taylor spotted something in the Bills’ defense that prompted him to change the play at the line of scrimmage.
“It was a decision, looking back I definitely shouldn’t have made,” Taylor said. “I alerted to a run, it wasn’t the right call. I got to be better in that situation.”
All Daboll could say was, “Yeah, it didn’t work out.”
Points were at a premium and the Giants — for the fourth time in six games — failed to produce an offensive touchdown.
That was not going to cut it against the Bills.
Taylor finished 24 of 36 for 200 yards and he was sacked three times.
The Giants were not going to pitch a shutout and held onto their six-point lead for as long as they could.
The Bills put together a mammoth 17-play, 89-yard drive that took 9:58 off the clock, finally cashing in when Josh Allen hit Deonte Harty on a 3-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter to go ahead 7-6.
After a slow start, Barkley was able to carry the ball 24 times and he gained 93 yards.
He broke free on runs of 19 and 34 yards that led to Graham Gano’s third field goal and the Giants were ahead 9-7 with 10:35 left.
That did not last long. Allen, heating up, ended a 75-yard drive by throwing across his body and finding tight end Quintin Morris, who eluded safety Dane Belton, for a 15-yard scoring toss to put the Bills up 14-9 with 3:48 remaining.
Tyler Bass missed a 53-yard field goal with 1:25 left to give the Giants life.
They fell just short.
After not forcing a turnover in the first four games, the Giants suddenly have become thieves.
They forced their fourth in a five-quarter span when Okereke punched the ball away from Gabe Davis and McFadden recovered the fumble on the Giants’ 44-yard line.
Thanks to a 30-yard Taylor lob to Slayton, the Giants were able to get to the Buffalo 8-yard line but their line was dominated in the red zone and Graham Gano’s 29-yard field goal gave the Giants their first first-half lead of the season.
It did not last.
“Everyone’s frustrated,” Barkley said. “We’re 1-5, not where we want to be right now.”
