NFL

Giants fall to Cowboys in season opener

OPENING BLIGHT: Kenny Phillips can’t stop Queens native Kevin Ogletree from scoring one of his two touchdowns as the Cowboys came into MetLife Stadium and ruined the season opener for Eli Manning and the Giants. (Getty Images)

OPENING BLIGHT: Kenny Phillips can’t stop Queens native Kevin Ogletree from scoring one of his two touchdowns as the Cowboys came into MetLife Stadium and ruined the season opener for Eli Manning (inset) and the Giants. (
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The plan was to drink up everything the night had to offer, to bask in the afterglow of a Super Bowl won and carry that momentum into a new season. Instead of drinking anything in, the Giants had to take a bite out of something they never saw coming.

“Take a bite out of humble pie is basically what it is,’’ Tom Coughlin said after watching his team play unevenly on both sides of the ball in a 24-17 opening-night loss to the Cowboys. “There won’t be any more blowing smoke up their rear ends. Last year is last year.’’

It’s not a taste the Giants expected as they headed into a new season determined to adhere to Coughlin’s marching orders to Build The Bridge from their stunning 2011 closing run and carry it over into a new season. The Giants, though, got all botched up at the toll booths.

“If anything’s gonna wake us up, it’s gonna be something like this,’’ Osi Umenyiora said. “It’s a game we expected to win and we lost. We’ll find a way to fight back; we’ve done it before.’’

There was plenty of positive energy and emotional swirling about MetLife Stadium, but the defending Super Bowl champs never put their stamp on this one. Eli Manning was under too much pressure and produced only three first-half points. He had no consistent rushing attack to lean on. Never mind the 78 yards and one touchdown by Ahmad Bradshaw. When push came to shove, the Giants were shoved back, as they lost three yards on two runs from the Dallas 1-yard line, having to settle for a field goal. Rookie David Wilson lost the ball on a fumble on his second NFL carry. Victor Cruz had three drops.

On defense, they were ravaged by DeMarco Murray, who gained 131 yards and made like a ping-pong ball in bounding off Mathias Kiwanuka and Justin Tuck on a 48-yard run. Tony Romo, working the slant game to perfection, was 22 of 29 for 301 yards and threw three touchdown passes, two to Kevin Ogletree, who had his way with Corey Webster and others.

“We didn’t really stop the run. They had all sorts of yardage and we had little or none,’’ Coughlin said. “And it’s like we’d never seen a slant before.’’

Super Bowl winners had been 8-0 in mid-week season openers ever since the league decided to showcase the previous season’s champions. The Giants ended that streak by getting beaten to the punch.

The Giants lost the opener last season and won the Super Bowl, so there’s that.

The Giants were down 14-3 early in the third quarter when Ogletree caught his second touchdown pass of the game, a 40-yarder, as he broke free from Webster on a stop-and-start move. Manning came back with an efficient nine-play, 89-yard drive, fueled by Domenik Hixon’s brilliant leaping catch over cornerback Brandon Carr, who mistimed his jump, for 39 yards to the Dallas 10. From there, Bradshaw finally got some room to maneuver and took it around the left side for a touchdown to pull the Giants within 14-10.

The 48-yard run by Murray put the Cowboys on the doorstep again. A sack by Linval Joseph helped the Giants limit the damage and Dan Bailey’s 33-yard field goal pumped the Cowboys lead up to 17-10.

The Cowboys put the hammer down when Miles Austin made cornerback Justin Tryon look silly — Tryon was in the game because Michael Coe strained his hamstring — on a 30-yard touchdown toss from Romo with 5:57 remaining. That signaled time to go for many in the MetLife Stadium record crowd of 82,287.

Those who took to the exits missed Manning hitting tight end Martellus Bennett on a nine-yard scoring pass to pull the Giants within seven points with 2:36 to go. Needing a quick three-and-out on defense, the Giants couldn’t get it, as Romo, on third-and-12, hit Ogletree for 15 yards with two minutes left, and that was that.

With that, the Giants had to take a full helping of humble pie. Did they ever think it was needed?

“Not until the game ended,’’ Kiwanuka said. “You can’t look back on last year and say how good we were. You can’t look back at the beginning of this year and say how bad we are.’’

paul.schwartz@nypost.com