LAS VEGAS — The Giants lost Sunday.
Their fans lost.
Their front office lost.
Their next head coach — whoever that may be — lost.
In what was a perfect way to accentuate this historically miserable season for the Giants, their loss came in the form of a 34-10 win over the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium.
The victory for the Giants, though, severely damaged their chance of having the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft.
And with that, it has potentially compromised their chances of significantly enhancing their haul of draft picks since, at No. 1, they’d be holding all the cards in the draft for teams desperate to land a franchise quarterback with coveted Fernando Mendoza poised to go first.
The Giants, now 3-13, entered the day with possession of the No. 1 overall pick, with a 37 percent chance of retaining it.
Had they lost the game, they’d have entered next Sunday’s season finale against Dallas at MetLife Stadium with a 73 percent chance of picking first.
The Giants left Las Vegas after defeating a Raiders team (2-14) that was overtly tanking with just a 6-percent chance of picking first.
That, however, hardly mattered to the Giants players and their interim head coach, Mike Kafka, who was 0-5 since taking over for the fired Brian Daboll before finally tasting victory for the first time as a head coach.
Whatever momentary relief the team felt about ending its nine-game losing streak with a first victory since Oct. 9 could end up hurting their future depending on what unfolds in the draft.
The Raiders entered the game advertising to anyone who was paying attention that they had little desire to win Sunday’s game.
On Friday, they placed tight end Brock Bowers, their top offensive weapon, and safety Jeremy Chinn, one of their best defensive players, on season-ending injured reserve despite the fact that both players played every snap in the previous week’s game.
Then, on Saturday, the Raiders placed edge rusher Maxx Crosby, their best player, on IR with what they described as a lingering knee injury.
Crosby, who’d played 100 percent of the defensive snaps in the Raiders’ previous five games and was not re-injured last week, was reportedly so livid he immediately left the team facility when informed of the team’s decision.
Crosby then posted videos of himself playing basketball and jumping on a trampoline this week, a show that he’s not hurt too badly to play.
“I don’t give a s–t about the pick,’’ Crosby told reporters on Tuesday. “I don’t play for that.’’
That, however, is exactly what Raiders’ management was playing for on Sunday.
The game marked the first time in NFL history two teams played each other with matching nine-game losing streaks, all from the same season, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
The Raiders looked a lot more like the team riding a nine-game losing streak than the Giants, who raced to a 17-3 lead in the first half and never looked back.
Giants rookie quarterback ran for two touchdowns and completed 22-for-30 for 207 yards. Their defense shut down the Las Vegas rushing attack and harassed Raiders quarterback Geno Smith.
An interception by linebacker Bobby Okereke of Smith set the Giants up for their first score — a 1-yard scoring run by Devin Singletary on the final play of the first quarter.
Okereke took advantage of a poorly thrown pass by the former Jets quarterback in the red zone, picked it clean away from intended receiver, tight end Michael Mayer, and returned it 48 yards.
One play before he scored, Singletary had a 29-yard run to the Las Vegas 1-yard line.
After a 42-yard field goal by Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson, the Giants took a 14-3 lead on a 12-yard designed run by quarterback Jaxson Dart with 5:56 remaining in the first half.
The Giants got the ball back one final time in the first half and made it 17-3 on a 32-yard field goal by Ben Sauls, the team’s fourth kicker this season.
Dart, who threw only 13 passes for 33 yards last week, was sharp in the first half, completing 15-for-20 for 134 yards.
The unsung star of the first half, though, was Giants receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, who caught nine passes for 97 yards before the intermission.
Robinson entered the game needing 99 yards to reach 1,000 for the season for the first time in his career. He finished with 11 receptions for 113 yards.
Giants top draft pick, linebacker Adbul Carter, had a strong first half as well, with a half sack, a tackle of Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty for a 10-yard loss and he drew a key Raiders holding penalty.
The Raiders tightened the game slightly on a 4-yard Smith scoring pass to Tyler Lockett to cut the Giants lead to 20-10 in the third quarter.
On the play, a fourth-and-goal from the Giants’ 4-yard line, their cornerback Deonte Banks, whose inconsistent play has been maddening to the team, was very late in his coverage of Lockett.
On the ensuing kickoff, though, Banks made amends, returning it 95 yards for a touchdown and a 27-10 Giants lead.
The Banks play was a capper on a where-has-this-been-all-season performance by the Giants.
They looked like a real, live football team on this day — albeit against a team that entered the game telling the world it had little interest in winning it.
Time will tell if the Giants lost by winning.
