Giants lose to Washington 22-7

"Well the last game of the season is in the books. The stadium wasn't packed to see the Giants play this one out. The Giants defense looked like swiss cheese, with Washington easily moving the ball downfield until they got down to the 4-yard line. The defense held, and Washington settled for an easy field goal and three point lead. Jake Fromm was the starting quarterback in this game, and the offense showed some life for a change, and thanks in part to Fromm scrambling for 18 yards on a third down play, they ended up with a 4th-and-1 at Washington's 47-yard line.
They got a freebie when they were going for it, as one of Washington's players was hit with a neutral zone infraction. The next time they faced a 4th-and-1, they were down to the 32-yard line. I thought they would send Graham Gano out for a long field goal to tie the game. Instead, they ran some ill conceived play, having wide receiver Alex Bachman run with the ball and not Saquon Barkley. I guess that was supposed to surprise the opposition, but our offensive line looked to have been confused as well. Bachman was soon out in the open with no blocker, and was easily tackled for a loss.
The defense almost intercepted Taylor Heinicke on the next drive, and then both teams didn't get very far as the game moved towards halftime. With less than six minutes left the Giants got stuck with poor field position, after a punt had them starting at their 3-yard line. Fromm threw a poor pass to Elijhaa Penny, and then Penny was hit with a false start penalty. The Giants now had a 2nd-and-11 from their 2-yard line. I couldn't believe that their next two plays were quarterback sneaks.
They gave up on trying to make a first down, and those plays gained them just 3 more yards for a punt from the endzone. I saw Joe Judge go for two fourth down plays earlier on, and now this? The risk of a safety was there of course, but the score would have been 5-0 if that happened. Anyway, the punt had Washington starting at the Giants 46-yard line, but the defense got them 3-and-out after Lorenzo Carter sacked Heinicke for a 7-yard loss. The Giants got the ball back with about two and a half minutes left.
I was hoping they could just hang onto it until the end of the half, because Giants fans know what they have been seeing all season long when they don't, and spoiler alert, it happened again. The Giants went 3-and-out, and after the punt, Washington had the ball at their own 31 yard line with a minute and a half left. Heinicke's first pass went for a 40-yard completion. Even though Leonard Williams sacked Heinicke for a 10-yard loss, his next two passes gained 14 yards, and Washington's 43-yard field goal had them up 6-0 at the half.
I wasn't crazy about all that I had seen, but this game wasn't out of reach. The third quarter started off with the Giants committing a false start on their first play. They actually made a first down after that, but soon had to punt. Washington had the ball at their own 9-yard line, and the Giants defense played as poorly as they had at the start of the game. Washington had another long drive, but this time they were stopped out of field goal range.
The Giants had a first down after three plays, but then Fromm threw an interception, and that was returned for the first touchdown of the game. Washington's 2-point conversion attempt failed, and they were now leading 12-0. I wasn't expecting much when the Giants got the ball back, but they surprised me. They made two fourth down coversions, and this nice long drive ended with Fromm throwing a 22 yard touchdown pass to Darius Slayton.
It was the first actual offensive touchdown of the game, and the Giants were in reach now, trailing 12-7. Washington took the field and maybe figured if the Giants could do it, why not them, and they did. Five minutes later they scored a touchdown. One play later, Fromm was sacked and fumbled the ball over, giving Washington the ball at the Giants 12-yard line. The Giants held them to a field goal and a 22-7 lead with less then five minutes left.
After another sack on Fromm, the Giants were 3-and-out. The next time Fromm got the ball, there was less than two minutes left to this game and to the season. Fromm's last pass on this drive was on a desperation 4th-and-3 with nine seconds left, and he was intercepted. Right now, I'm just happy that it's all over and done. The Giants finished up the season with just four wins. I don't know what the Giants plans are for next year, but things have to get better."

"The Giants knew Washington was much better stopping the run than the pass, so guess what they did. In the first half there were 14 runs, and 7 passes. Admittedly, the offense was non productive no matter what they attempted to do, and they ended up with only one first down, just one, when quarterback Jake Fromm took off for an 18 yard run.
During that first half, Saquon Barkley and Devontae Booker combined for 10 carries for 20 yards. That's how bad things were on the offensive side of the ball. Meanwhile, the defense held up and limited Washington to just 6 points, so the Giants were somehow still in this game, losing to Washington with a manageable 6-0 score.
By default, the Giants had to pass more in the second half, and by the end of the game, Fromm had thrown the ball 31 times, completing 15 for 103 yards and 1 touchdown. He threw 2 interceptions, with one being on the last play of the game. Fromm also had another long run for 27 yards, and he ended up being the lead rusher for the game with 5 carries for 53 yards. Barkley and Booker's lack of production remained consistent, with them totaling 44 yards on 19 carries.
On offense, too many things went wrong for the Giants this year. To improve the passing game, they had signed wide receivers Kenny Golladay and John Ross, and tight end Kyle Rudolph. The Giants also drafted Kadarius Toney with their first selection in the 2020 NFL Draft. Add that to what they already had, Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, and Evan Engram, and they looked set to go. Saquon Barkley was returning following the ACL injury he suffered last season, so all of the weapons were intact.
None of the players I mentioned played the full season. Shepard missed 10 games, and Ross and Toney, each missed 7. With that, only one player on the team had more first down catches than Toney, who tied Engram's mark at 21. Golladay led the team with 27 first downs, and Shepard was fourth on the list with 19. The Giants were wise to sign Devontae Booker to back up Barkley, who clearly was not at full strength this year. Booker averaged 4.1 yards a carry to Barkley's 3.7, and both running backs finished up with each having 593 rushing yards.
The neck injury Daniel Jones sustained in the game with Philadelphia was of course a big setback for the Giants. The Giants were 3-2 in the last games Jones played, before losing the last six straight without him. The defense was put in poor field position a number of times, and the Giants lost those games by a combined score of 163-56. The offense turned the ball over 14 times, including two pick-sixes that added to that score, and the defense created three turnovers.
Next year Joe Judge will have to get with his trainers and look into why the players are sustaining so many injuries, and that includes to the offensive line. Andrew Thomas was the one bright spot there, and they need to build from the next draft. Dave Gettleman will be retiring, and hopefully the Giants will come up with a general manager who will do a better job than what they have seen over the last few years."

Giants scored just two touchdowns on 46 offensive possessions in their final four games.

Giants passed for less than 200 net yards in each of their last nine games.

Giants lost their sixth consecutive game, their longest season-ending losing streak since they lost their final eight games in 2003.

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