At the end, the only witnesses were a gaggle of Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith jerseys, a couple of Josh Allens thrown into the mix, sprinting to the lowest rows of MetLife Stadium, screaming joyously at their Buffalo Bills, glad-handing them, chanting for them. The Giants hadn’t just lost a game; the fans had surrendered a stadium.

Who says football is dead in New York?

The Bills reside in Orchard Park, N.Y., so they are already the Empire State’s most geographically loyal team. Sunday they also clinched the state title with their 28-14 clubbing of the Giants. A week after eking past the Jets here 17-16, the Bills are 2-0 overall — and 2-0 at MetLife Stadium — and it isn’t merely a wiseguy’s lament to wonder if the Jets or Giants will win two games here all year.

Combined.

“We have great fans,” Giants coach Pat Shurmur said when the carnage was complete. “They deserve to see wins.”

Two weeks into a brand-new year, it has officially become fair to wonder just how many wins those great fans can expect to see between now and the end of December. This was a carbon copy of Week 1: early hope sparked by the otherworldly gifts of Saquon Barkey (55 yards rushing by himself, capped by a 27-yard scoring run) immediately and completely swallowed by 58 ½ minutes of ineptitude.

Both sides of the ball.

All facets of the game.

“Ultimately,” Shurmur said, “we didn’t make enough plays.”

Of course, it is one thing to be manhandled by the Cowboys, in Dallas, since it looks as if that could be one of the best teams in the NFC this year. The Bills? They’re an improved bunch with a fun, young quarterback in Allen, and they’ve done what they can to crush the souls of just about every football fan living in and around New York City these past two weeks.

But these aren’t the K-Gun Bills. Except against the Giants, it seems that every offense resembles the K-Gun Bills. And every defense can act for a week like the ’72 No-Name Dolphins. The Giants are equal-opportunity mud pits right now, and it means an 0-2 start to the season for the sixth time in seven years.

Marinate on that one for a while.

“We have to go win the game in Tampa next week,” Shurmur said. “That’s the message.”

Alas, it is not. The message from these first two weeks is that there is a glaring talent shortage up and down the roster, and where there isn’t, there are crushing spasms of youth and inexperience. Barkley is wonderful to watch, and thrilling every time he touches the ball.

But there is a reason so many NFL folks thought it foolish for the Giants to build their foundation around a running back. The last time that was fashionable Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung were toting the rock 45 times a game using the three running plays in Vince Lombardi’s playbook. That used to be a way to dominate in the NFL.

They also used to wear leather helmets, too.

“It’s not how you want to start,” Eli Manning said. “But you have to keep fighting, find ways to play better football, it’s simple as it comes. I know we can play better and do better than we are. We’ve got to find a way to come together as a team and win as a team.”

But when? This week seemed like a distinct possibility, until the Bills steamrolled them. Next week seemed like a possibility, but the Bucs went on the road and won in Carolina on Thursday night, and will have three extra days to rest and recuperate before the Giants come to town. The Redskins after that? Washington held its own again Sunday against Cowboys, a week after throwing a scare into the Eagles.

It can get away from you quick. This is nothing new. The Giants have made a habit of letting seasons get away from them by Columbus Day the past few years.

There have been some of those seasons when it seemed puzzling, those slow starts. Not this time. There is Barkley (107 yards rushing, 28 more receiving) and there is Manning, who’s grasp on the QB1 job will get more and more tenuous as the weeks fly by — and then there is a talent gap as great as the distance between East Rutherford, N.J., and Orchard Park, N.Y.

The Giants are 0-2 on merit, they were booed off the field at halftime and only spared an encore at the end because there was no one left to boo, just a couple thousand Jim Kellys and Thurman Thomases and Bruce Smiths to salute the Champions of New York, the other team wearing blue Sunday at MetLife Stadium.