FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — He fought like hell to show everyone that he would not be Dead Dan Walking before it even began, a novice gunslinger armed with a water pistol, forced to stare down Bill Belichick and Tom Brady inside Last Chance Saloon.

He burned to show the world that this did not have to be the wrong time and the wrong place for Daniel Jones.

Except these Patriots don’t care who you are, or where you’ve been, they will show you no mercy if you dare trespass in their Super Bowl backyard. You are fair game.

Except that this is the place where balls were deflated once and it is the place where egos are deflated every damn time a baby-face rookie quarterback shows up at the stadium they call The Razor and leaves with nicks and cuts all over and, on Thursday night, a 35-14 defeat.

Jones was drafted in no small part because of his makeup, which presumably will enable him to shrug off nights such as these.

When he is Danny Picks.

This should not have been in any way, shape or form a fair fight, and it would have been a fairer fight if Jones showed up with another year under his belt and Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram at his side instead of Jon Hilliman, Eli Penny, Cody Latimer and Rhett Ellison.

Jones’ friends on defense — a Lorenzo Carter strip-sack of Brady became a 42-yard Markus Golden TD — made it a fairer fight than anyone thought possible.

But you don’t walk out of Gillette Stadium alive when your quarterback, for all his fight and moxie, throws three picks.

“I didn’t play well by any means, but I don’t think it was overwhelming,” Jones said. “It was just bad plays, bad decisions.”

The young Brady never had to play a Belichick defense. It took years, remember, for the young Peyton Manning to conquer it. So there were times when Jones (15 of 32, 161 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions) must have thought there were 12 Patriots on the field, and in his head.

“They’re a good defense, and did a good job tonight,” Jones said.

His third interception was a drive-killer intended for Ellison that Stephon Gilmore jumped by the right sideline early in the third quarter.

“Just a bad read,” Jones said.

Jones — 2-for-10 on third down — clasped his hands on top of his helmet in stunned disbelief.

Jones had already thrown a pair of first-half interceptions and engineered an offense that accumulated all of 18 yards on its first 11 plays.

He threw behind Golden Tate on the pick that Gilmore deflected to John Simon.

“First one was late and forced it,” Jones said.

He had his arm hit by Danny Shelton on the Duron Harmon pick.

“Second one, just held onto the ball too long, should have tried to throw it away earlier,” Jones said.

It was only Patriots 21, Giants 14 in the fourth quarter because Big Blue’s junkyard dogs were making a harried Brady miss Rob Gronkowski — if not Antonio Brown.

A feisty Big Blue made a gallant stand against Brady and Jones had the ball at his 32 and that 21-14 deficit to overcome when Hilliman fumbled a third-and-9 screen that Kyle Van Noy returned for the clinching 22-yard TD.

Jones’ One Shining Moment came midway through the second quarter when he led Tate, who bobbled the dime, beautifully for a 64-yard TD against Jonathan Jones that cut the deficit to 14-7. It was the first passing TD this season against the Patriots defense.

“I just tried to give him a chance,” Jones said.

There would be no second TD for Danny Picks. Only another painful lesson about taking care of the ball.

“We’re pushing to play better and by no means are we panicked or are we at all questioning ourselves,” Jones said. “We know we’ve got to play better.

“I certainly know I’ve got to play better.”

Dead Dan Walking out into the night.