Giants vs. Jets: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 Preseason

The New York Giants and New York Jets clashed in the battle of MetLife Stadium on Saturday night, and the NFC squad got the best of its AFC counterpart, 21-20, in the preseason dress rehearsal.

First-team players for both sides saw plenty of action, and the focus was on Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz in his first appearance on the NFL gridiron since he tore his right patellar tendon against the Philadelphia Eagles in October 2014.

Cruz trotted onto the field during the Giants' opening series, but he didn't get involved until quarterback Eli Manning floated a wobbly pass his way minutes into the second quarter, which nearly resulted in an interception.

However, ESPN.com's Jordan Raanan noted Cruz looked sharp while running the deep route: 

Cruz finished with a single catch for four yards, but the night was an overwhelming positive for the 29-year-old wideout as he made his triumphant return to the turf and received plenty of snaps alongside the team's starters.

The NFL shared a replay of his lone catch of the night:

The same, though, could not be said of the Giants offensive line. 

A week after Big Blue were smashed by the Buffalo Bills, the Giants had no answer for a ferocious Jets front seven that imposed its will on a flimsy protection scheme. 

The New York Daily News' Manish Mehta didn't pull any punches when describing the Giants' woeful offensive line play:

As a result of the Giants' inability to buy their key playmakers time, production suffered.

Manning finished his third preseason game with 65 yards on 10-of-15 passing and an interception, while running backs Rashad Jennings and Shane Vereen recorded minus-one and 11 yards, respectively. 

Struggles on that side of the ball were nothing new for the NFC East hopefuls, as the New York Post's Paul Schwartz noted:

And yet, as lackluster as the Giants offense was, the Jets weren't better. 

Without star receiver Brandon Marshall, who was held out to rest, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was left with Eric Decker and a slew of inexperienced targets who couldn't gain much separation from the Giants defensive backs. 

Fitzpatrick largely relied on dink-and-dunk passes in a conservative scheme, finishing 9-of-16 for 76 yards and a touchdown.

His first half was uneventful, but Fitzpatrick did come alive when he and Decker beat Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins for a 22-yard touchdown with 5:20 remaining in the second quarter. 

The Jets' official Twitter account relayed video of the game's opening score: 

In other positive Gang Green news, Matt Forte made his Jets debut after battling a hamstring injury throughout training camp.

The big free-agent signee rushed for 28 yards on 10 carries, and he added two catches for nine yards. 

When it came to the Jets' backup quarterback competition between Geno Smith and Bryce Petty, the former saw the field first and looked unspectacular with 14 yards on 3-of-5 passing in two series' worth of work. 

Petty entered midway through the third quarter, and the results didn't differ much. 

Although he posted better raw numbers, with 59 yards through the air on 5-of-9 passing, the former Baylor Bears standout threw a ghastly pick-six that allowed the Giants to go ahead 14-10 less than three minutes into the fourth quarter.

Both offenses underwhelmed in the final significant game of the preseason, but that should motivate them to come out sharper in Week 1 of the regular season.

While both game plans were vanilla, the Giants' protection scheme was in shambles, and the Jets were without their most dynamic playmaker.

With two weeks to prepare for the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals, respectively, the Giants and Jets should lock in and be ready to channel Saturday's frustrations into positive gains when the regular season kicks off.

Postgame Reaction

"It felt great, man," Cruz said of his return, per The Record's Art Stapleton. "Just to be with my teammates, put this No. 80 jersey back on and to get the love of the crowd."

"There were some great shots of individual effort tonight. A gritty performance, especially in the second half," Giants head coach Ben McAdoo said, per the team's official Twitter account. "It was tough sledding early on for the starting offense. We have some work to do, but we're confident we can get it fixed."

As for the Jets, Newsday's Kimberley A. Martin reported Marshall was absent Saturday because of sore hips. 

"Marshall could have played had today been a regular-season game," Jets head coach Todd Bowles said, per the team's Twitter account.

"We're not close," Bowles said of his team's readiness for the regular season, according to the Associated Press' Dennis Waszak Jr. "We've still got a lot of work to do before opening day."