Did Giants’ Brian Daboll call plays in 2nd half of epic comeback win?

Did he or didn’t he?

Giants head coach Brian Daboll — who made his name in the NFL as an offensive coordinator — says he wasn’t calling plays in the second half as the Giants rallied from 21 points down to beat the Arizona Cardinals, 31-28, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Sunday.

With the Giants trailing, 20-0, to start the second half — and later down 28-7 — Daboll spent the second half covering his mouth with his play sheet when the Giants had the ball, which seemed to indicate he had taken the play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.

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The Giants, who had gone 90 minutes to begin this season without a point, scored on three plays on their first possession of the second half to cut the gap to 20-7 and end the drought at 91 minutes, 17 seconds.

In the postgame press conference, Daboll was asked if he had been calling the plays.

“Nope,” he said. “Nope.”

Was anything changed with Kafka? Was he providing more input than usual?

“No,” Daboll said, “we always communicate like that. I always have a sheet with me, but Mike did a fantastic job.”

Daboll added that he communicates with all of the coaches during a game.

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The Giants, who improved to 1-1, lost 40-0 in Week 1 against the Cowboys and didn’t look much better against the Cardinals during the first half, falling into a 20-0 hole at halftime. They trailed 28-7 in the third quarter but cut the margin to 28-14 on Saquon Barkley’s 1-yard touchdown run.

The Giant kept the pressure on in the fourth, pulling within 28-21 with 8:51 left on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Barkley. They tied the game on Jones’ perfectly placed 11-yard touchdown pass to a diving Isaiah Hodgins.

The Giants forced a three-and-out, then drove 56 yards in eight plays to set up Gano’s go-ahead kick.

Jones was 26 of 37 passing. He also ran for 59 yards and a 14-yard touchdown. Barkley ran for 63 yards and a touchdown, but hobbled off the field late in the fourth quarter with an apparent right ankle injury.

James Conner ran for 106 yards and a touchdown for the Cardinals.

Arizona (0-2) has lost six straight games at home dating to last October. The Giants denied quarterback Joshua Dobbs his first win as an NFL starter and coach Jonathan Gannon his first NFL victory.

Dobbs — making his second start with the Cardinals after being acquired in a trade with the Browns last month — pushed the Cardinals ahead 14-0 early in the second quarter on a 23-yard touchdown run, bowling through Giants safety Xavier McKinney on the way to the end zone.

Dobbs fell to 0-4 as a starter; he lost twice with Tennessee last season. He was 21 of 31 passing for 228 yards and a touchdown.

Arizona went ahead 7-0 midway through the first quarter after an impressive nine-play, 86-yard drive that ended with Conner’s 4-yard touchdown run.

Things got worse for the Giants late in the second quarter when Jones’ pass to Barkley bounced off the running back and into the arms of Arizona safety Jalen Thompson, who ran it back 35 yards to the New York 34. The Cardinals capitalized with Matt Prater’s 44-yard field goal.

The Giants’ first six quarters this year were — at least by one measure — among the worst in NFL history.

The Giants gave up 60 points before Jones ran for a touchdown and the team’s first points of the season. It was the third-most points given up before scoring since 1950, according to Sportradar.

The 1978 Colts gave up 86 points before scoring while the 1961 Raiders gave up 99.

The AP contributed to this report.