The clock was ticking on Thursday night and the Giants were inching closer to the unthinkable — or at least the absurd.

Your first two home games without a touchdown? And in this torrid third season for coach (and offensive lineman) Brian Daboll no less?

But that’s the harsh reality for the Giants through four games after Thursday’s 20-15 loss to the Cowboys.

Daboll’s offense is mostly disappointing. His team is 1-3 and remains a doormat in the NFC East, with losses to Washington and Dallas already. The Cowboys still own John Mara’s team – with 14 wins in the last 15 meetings. And Daboll is now 7-14 since the start of last season.

Yes, popular rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers excelled again – 12 catches on 15 targets for 115 yards. But if Daboll doesn’t find a way to get his offense in order soon, he won’t be back coaching Nabers in 2025.

The Giants have now gone a game and a half without a touchdown after also failing to get into the end zone in Week 1. So much for Daboll stepping up this offensive – be system – by completely sidelining offensive coordinator Mike Kafka from the start this season.

For all their offensive deficiencies on Thursday, the Giants still had a chance to win late.

Hoping to exorcise the Cowboys’ demons, the Giants got the ball back down 20-15 at their own 30-yard line with 6:54 to play. Could they finally beat Dak Prescott? Could Daniel Jones actually win in primetime? Both of these questions could still be answered.

At that point, the Giants had five field goals and a punt in their six drives – after failing to score in the second half of last week’s win at Cleveland. And packed MetLife Stadium on Thursday still remembered the Giants’ disaster in Week 1 – two field goals in a 28-6 loss to Minnesota.

But with the game on the line Thursday, the Giants advanced 15 yards — and then faltered on fourth-and-six with 3:21 left when Nabers failed to make an acrobatic catch down the sideline that would have gained 15 yards. It would have been a fantastic catch. But in keeping with the Giants’ sluggish offensive performance on Thursday – in the midst of another brilliant game from Nabers – that didn’t happen.

Afterwards there were no boos for Daboll and Co. – nothing like at the end of the first week. Perhaps Giants fans have already accepted the reality of this season, especially when it comes to Daboll’s offense struggling to score points despite Nabers looking like a star.

Late in the third quarter, the Cowboys – after limiting the Giants to their fourth field goal in four drives – maintained their five-point halftime lead by kicking a 60-yard field goal. And for a Giants offense that couldn’t crack the end zone, the 17-12 lead felt especially significant.

Sure enough, the Giants responded with their fifth field goal in six drives, trailing 17-15 with 11:11 to play. The Cowboys responded by settling for a field goal to take a 20-15 lead.

The Giants went into halftime down 14-9 after settling for field goals on all three drives.

At the start of the second quarter they had a chance to take a 10-7 lead. But Jones clearly underthrew a wide-open Darius Slayton for a 70-yard touchdown. Jones had a free hand because Dallas was offside, but he couldn’t take advantage of it.

After Jones missed that opportunity, Prescott took advantage – a 55-yard touchdown pass (for a 14-6 lead) to CeeDee Lamb. He beat Deonte Banks, who had been terrible this season (four touchdowns allowed at that point).

Lamb rushed for 151 yards rushing against the Giants in their second game of last season. Thursday’s first half brought more of the same: six catches on six targets for 94 yards. Banks, who could fail in the first round, was also defeated in the last meeting against Lamb.

The Giants, coming off a season-saving win in Cleveland, returned home Thursday looking to bury their terrible recent history against the Cowboys. Last season, Dallas beat them by 40 points in the opening game at MetLife Stadium and then won 49-17 in Arlington – dropping the Giants to 2-8 in the game after Jones suffered a torn ACL.

As of Thursday, the Giants had lost six straight games to Dallas – and 13 of their last 14. The only win during that time: In 2020, the Giants defeated the Andy Dalton-led Cowboys. So the Giants hadn’t beaten Prescott – who had won 12 straight times against them – since he lost to them twice in 2016, his rookie year.

Prescott attempted Thursday to become the fourth quarterback in NFL history to win 13 straight games against the same opponent – and the first since Tom Brady did it against the Bills from 2003 to 2010. (Only one quarterback has won more than 13 straight – Bob Griese of the Dolphins, with 17 straight against the Bills from 1968 to 1979.)

Meanwhile, Jones entered Thursday with the worst primetime win percentage of any quarterback since 1970. Jones went 1-12 (.077), his only primetime win of 2022 with the Commanders. Jones’ last primetime game against Dallas before Thursday was last season’s 40-0 disaster in Week 1.

But the Cowboys were desperate at 1-2 on Thursday after losing two straight home games to the Saints and Ravens – after winning 16 straight home games in the regular season. Still, it’s not like the Giants excelled while grinding out an ugly 21-15 win at the Browns after leading 21-7 at halftime.

And Daboll’s offense failed again on Thursday.

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Darryl Slater can be reached at [email protected].