It was a “Monday Night Football’’ matchup in Week 3 of the 2022 season between the Giants and Cowboys at MetLife Stadium.

Chris Simms, a product of Franklin Lakes, N.J., and the son of Giants legend Phil Simms, was in attendance at a Giants game for the first time “in forever.’’

It was the first Giants game ever for Chris’ 12-year-old son Phillip.

“In the mezzanine, right on the 50-yard line, great seats,’’ Chris Simms said.

The game was close, but it was a struggle for Daniel Jones and the Giants’ offense.

“In person, I’m going, ‘Whoa, the Cowboys are definitely a notch better than the Giants,’’’ Simms told Sports+ this week. “My wife looked at me, and said, ‘Don’t the Cowboys just look faster and bigger than the Giants?’ And I was like, “Yeah, they are, that’s why.’’’

Jones was on his way to completing just 20 of 37 passes for 196 yards with one interception. Still, he was keeping the Giants in it by running nine times for 79 yards and ducking for cover as best as he could against a ferocious Cowboys pass rush that dropped him five times. The Giants ended up losing, 23-16.

“Here we are in the stands — ‘Daniel Jones, you suck!’’’ Simms said. “You know me, I can’t hold my mouth. So I started to turn around and talk to the fans. ‘Tell me, what was he supposed to do there? Who was open that he was supposed to throw it to? Did he have even half a second to set up and look at the defense?’

“I was saying, ‘Look, guys, there’s nothing. We’re in this game because he’s just kinda keeping us in it, avoiding sacks, running here, scrambling there. And it’s ugly, but we’re hanging in there because of him.’ Stop blaming him.’’’

Simms is not a Jones apologist, but he does consider himself an NFL quarterback realist, having played the position at Texas and for seven years in the NFL. Now an NBC Sports and PFT Live analyst, he has plenty of opinions, including counting down his top 40 NFL quarterbacks on his “Chris Simms Unbuttoned” podcast.

Simms listed Jones just outside the top 10 at No. 11, most notably ahead of Kirk Cousins (12), Dak Prescott (13) and Kyler Murray (19).

“When I first start it, I get something down on the page, and then I start to watch film and I get more on the page, and then I watch a little more film to nit-pick,’’ Simms said. “Some of these guys, it’s close — there’s little things that make a difference.

“With Daniel Jones, when I first went around with it, I thought he’d be somewhere in the middle part of the group, and then when I watched the film I went, ‘Damn, he’s a lot more impressive than I’m giving him credit for here.’ And then when I went back and watched it a second time, to me, it almost became more impressive.

“Size is a skill. He’s got incredible size. He’s one of the few quarterbacks in football who can throw over the line of scrimmage. People in his face, two defensive tackles right in his face, he can still throw to the tight end 10 yards over the middle. There’s a huge faction of quarterbacks in the NFL who can’t do that. He’s one of the best running quarterbacks in football. On high-level throws, he is extremely accurate.’’

Simms is more bullish on Jones than most league analysts are.

The numbers tell a nuanced story.

In 2022, Jones finished fifth in the NFL among starting quarterbacks in completion percentage (67.2), 15th in passing yards (3,205) and tied for 21st in touchdown passes (15). His interception percentage of 1.1 (five interceptions) was the lowest in the league. His quarterback rating of 92.5 ranked 13th. Jones was fifth in the league in rushing yards among quarterbacks with 708 yards and tied with Josh Allen of the Bills for third with seven rushing touchdowns.

Jones was in charge of an offense that helped get the Giants back into the playoffs for the first time since after the 2016 season, and his arm pushed the Giants to their first playoff victory since after the 2011 season.

“The Giants couldn’t have even played the way they played last year without Daniel Jones,’’ Simms said. “I don’t give a damn how many yards or touchdowns he threw for. I know all that’s not eye-popping. I’m more into, when I watch the film, I sit here and go, ‘Man, this guy took advantage of every little inkling or opportunity he had in this football game and then some.’

“Hey, everybody should be able to hit the wide-open guy 10 yards over the middle. That doesn’t mean s–t to me. ‘Oh, he’s wide-open and an NFL quarterback hit him?’ Whoa, way to go!

“We’re judging this by NFL throws: tight windows, tight coverage. Does he have control of the ball? How aggressive and competent is he in making those throws? And when it’s all said and done, am I sitting there going, ‘He left a lot of throws or yards on the field?’

“When I got done with [watching] Daniel Jones, I was like, ‘He maximizes every throw.’ And rarely do you go, ‘He left points or yards on the field in this football game.’ It’s almost the exact opposite — he gets a lot of positives out of plays where I go, ‘No one’s open, the pass protection sucks and he’s scrambled and got 15 yards or hung in there and made a high-level throw with nobody open and put it in a spot where his receiver could get it and no one else can get it.’ That, to me, is the special stuff, and that’s where he separates himself.’’

General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll determined those traits were worth making Jones their franchise quarterback, negotiating a new contract for four years and $160 million. The $40 million per year average puts Jones in a tie with Prescott and Matt Stafford for the ninth-highest-salaried quarterback in the NFL.

The general consensus among those who consider themselves to be NFL quarterback experts viewed the Jones deal as excessive.

Simms?

“He has untapped potential, the arrow’s pointing up, he’s everything the organization wants on and off the field as far as a human being, right?’’ Simms said. “He played better than Dak Prescott last year, for sure. He’s young. For the market and where it is right now, I thought it was right in line.’’

Want to catch a game? The Giants schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

Players sometimes — often, really — are judged by the company they keep on the field. If that group is thriving, the tendency is to keep it together. If that company is sagging, it is more tempting to initiate a separation and try again with a different mix of players.

For Darius Slayton, it is highly likely the Giants’ winning formula in 2022 greatly enhanced the opportunity for the receiver to return in 2023.

Despite not having a role on offense the first three weeks, Slayton eventually was given a shot, and offered the sort of contribution previous Giants coaching staffs came to expect from him: decent deep threat, reliable enough and providing speed on the outside. Slayton finished with 46 receptions — behind only Richie James (57) among the Giants wide receivers — for a team-high 724 yards and two touchdowns (albeit none after Nov. 13).

He did a nice job (4-88) shredding the woeful Vikings secondary in the 31-24 playoff victory in Minneapolis.

There was definitely a place for Slayton in an NFL wide receiver room, but he did not do enough in 2022 to force the Giants to bring him back, especially after Isaiah Hodgins finished with a flourish and, like Slayton, was playing on an expiring contract.

In mid-March, though, he signed a two-year contract worth $12 million with $4.9 million in guaranteed money and an additional $4.5 million available in incentives and contract escalators. Essentially, it can be viewed as a one-year commitment for $6 million: The Giants can get out of it after the 2023 season for a low ($1.75 million) dead-cap hit in 2024.

A sharp observer of the situation around him, Slayton understood that team success was a key factor in the Giants viewing him as someone worth keeping.

“Because if you win, it tells you have winning players,’’ Slayton said. “If you’re losing, it’s like, ‘I think we have winning players, but we’re losing.’ Definitely, winning helps everybody, the building, us, everybody has confidence that we can go out and win games.’’

Slayton did not break the bank, but he did convince the Giants brain trust that he played a role in the winning ways and deserved to stay around for more.