Add The New York Post on Google When a starting offensive guard is quiet in his NFL debut, that is a good thing.
Sisi Mauigoa’s first game for the Giants amounted to nothing.
Nothing, as in he allowed nothing, and in this case less is more.
He played all 69 snaps on offense in Sunday night’s 28-20 victory over the Cowboys, and on 36 pass-blocking snaps he gave up zero pressures and zero quarterback hits, according to Next Gen Stats.
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Mauigoa showed that he is big and sound and exactly what the Giants envisioned when they made him the No. 10 pick in the draft.
The entire offensive line was a big plus in this game, paving the way for a rushing average of 4.5 yards on 37 attempts, led by Cam Skattebo’s 81 yards on 18 carries.
“I mean, he was running really, really hard, really, really well,’’ head coach John Harbaugh said Monday. “Set the tempo, brought the energy, juice. I thought his reads were really good. Then of course the blocking. So, there were a lot of good blocks. I thought we did a good job with the game plan part of it in terms of getting in the right plays and everything.’’
Returning from ACL surgery, Malik Nabers was clearly on a pitch count and he ended up playing 36 snaps — 52 percent of the workload on offense. He was targeted a team-high nine times and his production (6 rec., 69 yards) in limited time was impressive.
New York Giants offensive guard Francis Mauigoa (65) walks into the tunnel after warmups during a preseason opening game between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect The rotation at wide receiver was indicative of what was seen in training camp: Rookie Malachi Fields led the wideouts with 50 snaps (72 percent) and caught two passes for 25 yards. Otherwise, there was not a whole lot from Darnell Mooney in his 39 snaps, although he did come away with two receptions (for 27 yards) on his only two targets. It was a quiet return for Odell Beckham Jr., with no targets in his 11 snaps. The same for Braxton Berrios on his 12 snaps.
Harbaugh said his “tackle’’ of Nabers in the pregame walk-through was not the first time he tried that maneuver with one of his players. Nabers was unsure if he was going to play and Harbaugh wanted to show him he was fully recovered and could take a hit.
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“It just kind of evolved into an opportunity to tackle,’’ said Harbaugh, a former defensive back at Miami of Ohio. “And I couldn’t pass it up, I guess. But no, it was good. It was fun. It was all in fun. Got a lot of laughs. Some guys gave me a sideways look. Some of the players were like, ‘What are you doing?’ So, it was good.
“We may have to add it in. I usually do tackle guys or imitate tackling guys because I really couldn’t tackle them in real life, I’m sure.’’
One aspect of the game Harbaugh did not like: “We’re putting the ball on the ground entirely too much. That’s got to change.’’ The Giants fumbled four times (Jaxson Dart, Skattebo, Isaiah Likely and Tyrone Tracy Jr.) but lost only one of them (by Tracy). “That’s not even close to being acceptable,’’ he said. … RB Phil Mafah was signed to the practice squad and WR Dalen Cambre was waived. Mafah was a 2025 seventh-round pick of the Cowboys out of Clemson.
