Giants tie with Washington 20-20

"The way this game started, I thought the Giants had no chance. By the end of the first quarter, Daniel Jones had fumbled the ball over to Washington, and the Giants went three-and-out on the next drive. Meanwhile, the Commanders had scored a field goal and a touchdown, and were up 10-0. The Giants got their act together after that, on both sides of the ball.
The offense scored a field goal, and the defense came up with a big sack on quarterback Taylor Heinicke, to get Washington off the field after three plays. On the Giants next drive, Daniel Jones started things off with a deep 55 yard pass to Darius Slayton. A few plays later, Saquon Barkley had a 13 yard run for a touchdown to make it a 10-10 game. Both teams exchanged field goals after that, and the score was tied at 13-13 at the half.
After the way the Giants closed out the second quarter, I thought they would go on to win this one. It certainly looked that way when three plays into the third quarter, Azeez Ojulari sacked Heinicke and recovered the fumble. Jones had the ball at the Washington 20-yard line, and soon threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins to put the Giants up 20-13.
After that though, the Giants next four drives all ended with punts. Washington on their turns, had three punts, a missed field goal, and one touchdown. That put the game into overtime, and the Giants won the toss to get the ball first. A third down sack on Jones killed their drive, and Washington didn't get far on theirs and punted. Then the Giants got just past midfield before Jones was sacked again on a third down.
With time winding down, the Giants had to contemplate going for it on a fourth-and-three from the Washington 45 yard line. That thought was gone when they took a five yard delay of game penalty. Then it looked like the Giants had a safety and a win on Washington's next offensive play, when Kayvon Thibodeaux sacked Heinicke right near the end zone.
After Washington punted, there were just 28 seconds left in the game. It was all up to the Giants to either win or end up with a tie. On the last play of the game, Graham Gano attempted a 58 yard field goal, but the ball fell short. We had seen the score tied three times in this game, and that's how it ended up after overtime. The Giants didn't take a loss today, but they will need to get their numbers up higher in that win column to stay ahead of Washington in the division."

"The game started out poorly for the Giants, especially Daniel Jones. After scrambling for one first down, he tried to run for another, and would have made it except he fumbled the ball over to Washington. They had it about midfield, and the Giants were lucky to hold them to a field goal. Jones took a sack on the next drive, and they were three-and-out.
As bad as it was at the start, Jones ended up completing 10 of 11 passes by halftime (one was a spike), and Saquon Barkley averaged 5.5 yards a carry for 60 yards and 1 touchdown. The game was tied at 13-13, and ten of Washington's points came off mistakes made by the Giants. Jones fumble led to three, and cornerback Fabian Moreau missed his tackle on wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who ran into the end zone for a touchdown.
The Giants couldn't afford mistakes in this game, and the coaching was suspect too. On the Giants last drive of the half, Barkley had a 21 yard run that got down to the Washington 30-yard line with just over a minute left. Barkley lost four yards on the next play, but Jones next pass completion to Matt Breida stopped the clock when he ran out of bounds. Jones had a first down completion to Isaiah Hodgins at the Washington 20-yard line, and with half a minute left, had to burn the Giants first time out.
The next series of plays had Jones completing a 7 yard pass to Richie James, sandwiched by him running the ball twice, gaining two yards each time. After the last one, Jones had to spike the ball to stop the clock, because those three plays had burned their last two timeouts. Graham Gano came in and kicked a 27 yard field goal to tie the score. Play calls might have included Barkley having at least one touch on any of the last six plays, and he seemed animated on the sidelines afterwards.
The second half had it's mishaps as well. There was a taunting penalty on Jon Feliciano, who ran over to congratulate Darius Slayton after a first down catch that would have the Giants at the Washington 35-yard line. Slayton, who had caught a 55-yard pass earlier on, was wide open to catch another deep ball, but dropped it. Admittedly, Slayton was questionable coming into this game, dealing with an illness.
In overtime, there was a botched third down play where Jones, James, and Barkley ran into each other in the backfield, killing the drive. On Washington's next drive, Brian Robinson rushed for 8 yards and fumbled the ball out of bounds, stopping the clock with 1:23 remaining. For some reason, Daboll burned his second and last timeout
When the Giants next got the ball back, there were only 28 seconds remaining, and no timeouts. There was no time to get closer than the Washington 40-yard line for Graham Gano's 58 yard field goal attempt, which failed. There were five possessions in the overtime session with opportunities for each team, and Washington made their share of mistakes as well.
Both teams showed that they are playing at the same level with this tie. Washington has a bye week to prepare them for their next game with the Giants, which gives them a decided edge. The Giants will have to dust themselves off, and get ready to face the top team in the division, the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium next Sunday."

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