Of course, that didn't matter, because the Giants were so inept against the Vikings on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, they lost 28-6.
But it certainly wasn't a good look for the Giants' special teams deficiencies and the fact they will be heading into the 2024 season without a proven punt returner.
They expected Gunner Olszewski to take on that role, but he failed to finish pre-game warmups.
Olszewski was declared out of the game with a recurrence of the groin injury he has had since the second preseason game.
The Giants had Olszewski and Isaiah McKenzie as returnees at training camp, but McKenzie is out for the season with a foot injury.
The Giants didn't hire a replacement for him, and with Olszewski injured, they were left with no strong options when he got hurt.
What's next? Darius Slayton.
The 27-year-old wide receiver regularly catches punted balls in practice but has never caught a punt in a game during his first five seasons with the Giants.
“That's a skill that I have,” Slayton said. “I can do it. At the end of the day, I do whatever it takes to help my team win. When the gunner goes down, I'm the next best option for punt return. If that happens, I'll get back out there and give it my all.”
It didn't work very well.
In the second quarter, Ryan Wright punted 44 yards, but that looked like it would soon be in trouble as the ball began to drop.
Slayton wondered whether to run and catch the ball or wait for it to bounce.
He did neither.
He tried to pick up the ball after it bounced, but the ball bounced off his body.
He was lucky to have teammate Dane Belton recover from the scrum.
“I ran up to the ball to try and catch it, and the ball caught a little bit of wind and moved a little more than I wanted, so I tried to catch it on the bounce,” Slayton said, “but I got too close to the ball. I should have just let it go, that was my first thought.”
So much for the highly anticipated appearance of multiple targets on the field at the same time.
Second-year receiver Jalin Hyatt barely played.
He was targeted once but didn't make the catch.
Rookie S Tyler Nubin led the Giants with seven tackles in his NFL debut.
Edge rusher Brian Barnes failed to make much of an impact in his first game with the Giants.
He had four tackles but never got close to Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold.
Special teamer Carter Coughlin was forced to leave the game in the first half with a pectoral muscle injury.
Center back Nick McLeod was sidelined with a knee injury.
The Giants' suspended players were S Anthony Johnson, CB Tre Hawkins, OLB Boogie Basham and OL Jake Kubas.
Tommy DeVito was the third quarterback.
