The New York Giants came into FedEx Field on Thursday night sporting a five-game winning streak over the Washington Football Team, one that oddsmakers expected to come to an end as they made them 4.5-point underdogs in the game.
The nationally-televised contest between the two NFC East rivals proved to be an entertaining affair with both quarterbacks playing well rather than the defensive standoff the game was advertised to be.
The Giants forced the WFT to punt on their opening possession after rookie linebacker Azeez Ojulari sacked quarterback Taylor Heinicke on third down. It was his second sack in as many weeks.
Big Blue took possession and went on an 11-play, 79-yard drive that ended with quarterback Daniel Jones scoring on a six-yard keeper to open the scoring.
The offensive line was without left guard Shane Lemieux, who was placed on IR this week with a knee injury. He was replaced by Nick Gates, who slid over from center and Billy Price started at center. Andrew Thomas started at left tackle, Nate Solder at right tackle and Will Hernandez at right guard.
Gates, the Giants’ most versatile lineman and a captain on the offense, went down during the Giants’ second possession in the first quarter with a fractured left leg and was carted off the field. He was replaced by Ben Bredeson.
Gates was the Giants’ shot caller on the line. After Gates left the game, miscommunications along the line began to occur.
The WFT tied the game in the second quarter on an 11-yard TD strike from quarterback Taylor Heinicke to Terry McLaurin, who beat James Bradberry for the third time of the night.
On the Giants’ next possession, quarterback Daniel Jones ran 58 yards for a touchdown but the score was nullified by a questionable holding call on C.J. Board at the 12 yard-line. The Giants ended up settling for a field goal. The run went into the books as a 46-yarder.
The WFT would take a 14-10 lead into the tunnel on a J.D. McKissic two-yard run.
In the second half, the Giants’ offense began to have some consistent success. They scored on their first three possessions. A Darius Slayton 33-yard touchdown catch on a perfect pass from Jones straddled by two Graham Gano field goals had the Giants up, 23-17, early in the fourth quarter.
After Dustin Hopkins narrowed the score to 23-20, the Giants Jones had Slayton wide open for 43-yard TD but Slayton could not reel it in. They settled for another Gano field goal, this time from 55 yards out to give the Giants a 26-20 lead with 4:50 remaining in the fourth quarter.
But the WFT wasn’t finished. On first-and-ten from the Washington 25, Heinicke hit McKissic down the sideline for 56 yards. Then he found tight end Ricky Seals-Jones for a 19-yard touchdown on the next play to put the WFT up, 27-26, with 4:33 left in regulation.
The Giants could not sustain their next drive and were forced to punt it away. Things weren’t looking very promising on the next WFT drive until Bradberry stepped in front of McLaurin to pick off Heinicke on the WFT 20 yard line with 2:12 left on the clock.
Again, the Giants failed to make much of their opportunity. Gano’s 35-yard field goal put them back on top, 29-27, at the two-minute warning.
After driving the ball 45 yards on ten plays, the WFT attempted a 48-yard field goal attempt that Hopkins pushed wide right. But Giants nose tackle Dexter Lawrence was called for jumping offsides. Hopkins then won the game on the next play with a 43-yarder, 30-29.
The losing continues….
Notes
The Giants opened the season 0-2 for the fifth consecutive year.
They rushed for 163 yards on the night, 137 coming in the first half. Jones led the team with 95 yards on nine carries.
The 391 yards of offense was the most in a game since Jason Garrett became the offensive coordinator at the beginning of the 2020 season.
The Giants did not turn the football over in this game. The WFT had just one interception.
This was Jones’ 29th NFL start and only the fourth game in which he did not record a turnover.
Sterling Shepard caught nine of his ten targets for 94 yards.
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