LANDOVER, Md. — Cam Skattebo fumbled away a Giants win on Sunday. Then Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels handed them a 27-27 tie in a jaw-droppingly dysfunctional ending for the Commanders that allowed John Harbaugh’s resilient but confused club to escape without a loss.
“I don’t want any of you to act like you’ve ever seen a game like that before,” Harbaugh said with a smirk afterwards, “or like you’ll ever see a game like that again.”
Both the Giants and the Commanders short-circuited at the opponent’s 24-yard line in their final possessions of overtime when each only needed a field goal for a sudden-death win.
Skattebo lost a fumble while Harbaugh was trying to inch his offense closer for rookie kicker Dominic Zvada, who missed three of his five field goal attempts, and to bleed the clock down just in case he missed.
“I’ve got to step up and make the play, simple as that,” Skattebo said. “I’ve got to hold onto the ball and make sure these guys know that when my number’s called, we’re gonna be OK.”
Then Dan Quinn’s Commanders offense drove to the Giants’ 26-yard line with 55 seconds remaining, ran the ball twice with no timeouts in their pocket and inexplicably let the clock run out on the game with a Daniels quarterback scramble.
Harbaugh was in disbelief, but he knew exactly what was happening. He removed his headset and was already halfway across the field as Quinn and the Commanders coaching staff and players stood with their hands on their hips and their heads in shock.
“I didn’t want anybody to say something different happened,” Harbaugh said with a smile. “I wanted to get off the field before they could take it away from us, I guess. I was surprised. It was pretty shocking.”
The Giants were a mix of confused, relieved and disappointed in the locker room afterwards. They’re obviously pleased that their strange looking 3-1-1 record keeps them atop the NFC East standings ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles (2-3), Dallas Cowboys (2-3) and the now reeling Commanders (1-3-1).
“We didn’t win the game. We didn’t lose the game. And I’ll take first place, you know what I’m sayin’?” edge rusher Abdul Carter said with a matter-of-fact nod.
But they weren’t thrilled, either. They scored only three points in the first half. And after clawing back from a 14-points second half deficit, they let a third straight win slip right through Skattebo’s fingers.
“I’m more pissed than anything because we had a chance,” veteran tight end Chris Manhertz said shaking his head. “But it could be worse.”
The Giants knew they were fortunate to have the ball in Skattebo’s hands in field goal range to begin with, anyway.
Quarterback Jameis Winston threw what should have been a game-ending interception to Commanders safety Jeremy Reaves at the Giants’ 19-yard line to start that drive. And Reaves just dropped it.
Winston was the reason the Giants even had a chance to win, though, too. He completed 33 of 54 passes for 326 yards, three touchdowns, one turnover and a 96.7 quarterback rating.
Tight end Isaiah Likely had 11 catches for 94 yards and two second-half touchdowns. And top receiver Malik Nabers made 11 catches for 121 yards and the game-tying, fourth quarter touchdown grab on a ridiculous 20 targets, just days after he asked for more passes to be thrown his way.
“We never give up,” Winston said.
Quinn’s gaffe in mismanaging the end of the game for Washington, however, can send the Giants back home on Amtrak with a smile on their faces. Because they have the only head coach in the NFC East right now who isn’t overtly costing his team games.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s end of game mismanagement handed his team a Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Brazil.
“I didn’t do very good in the final 20 seconds,” Schottenheimer said a couple weeks ago. “I hurt our chances to win that game.”
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni’s end of game mismanagement stole a win out of his team’s hands in Sunday morning’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
“I didn’t make the right decision,” Sirianni said Sunday. “And I lost us that game.”
Then here on Sunday afternoon, Quinn stood still and alone on the field long after the final whistle contemplating a fireable mistake.
“It’s my responsibility and no one else’s,” Quinn said. “That’s on me.”
Even minority Commanders owner Magic Johnson couldn’t believe it.
“I’m in total disbelief my Commanders had such poor clock management in today’s overtime game against the Giants,” Johnson posted on ‘X.’ “All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!”
Overtime had started with Zvada missing a 46-yard field goal wide left on the Giants’ opening possession. The Commanders took over at their own 36-yard line with 7:57 remaining needing only a field goal to win, but Carter forced a Dyami Brown fumble on third down that Washington recovered.
That set the stage for a punt, Winston’s near interception, Skattebo’s cough-up and Quinn’s insane mistake.
The Giants only reached overtime because Winston led four consecutive scoring drives to end regulation. He overcame a 14-point deficit and tied the game at 27 apiece with 1:43 to play on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Nabers up the middle of the field.
That score, and two TD passes to Likely from three and 17 yards out, were the Giants’ answers to two Daniels second half rushing touchdowns of 38 and 26 yards right up the gut of the Giants’ defense in the third and fourth quarters.
Nabers was disappointed it took them so long to get cooking and that they couldn’t bring it all the way home.
“We gotta put the game away on offense,” he said.
The Giants also saw right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (calf), safety Tyler Nubin (neck) and corner Colton Hood (concussion) go down with injuries during the grueling division battle.
Harbaugh’s team trailed, 12-3, at halftime because they couldn’t run or move the ball on offense. They came in committed to control the game on the ground, but the running backs carried the ball 11 times for a measly 21 yards (1.9 yards per carry) in the first half.
That put Winston in a lot of second and third and longs, and the Commanders teed off with their pass rush and blitzes, including a K’Lavon Chaisson sack fumble of Winston recovered by Tim Settle in the second quarter.
The Giants’ defense allowed a four-play touchdown drive on the game’s first possession. Washington running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt sprinted into the end zone untouched from 33 yards out for a 6-0 lead two minutes in after a missed extra point.
Otherwise, the defense only allowed three Drew Stevens field goals, including after Settle recovered Winston’s fumble at the Giants’ 27-yard line with 1:58 to play.
Winston made some good throws on the final possession of the first half to try to get some more points on the board before the break. But Skattebo dropped one pass and Nabers dropped two.
Zvada then missed a 57-yard field goal attempt, his second miss of the first half. He also had missed from 50 yards in the first quarter, although he sank a 51-yarder for their only points of the half.
Who knew that all of these individual plays were building to such a confusing catastrophe for Washington that it would leave Skattebo calling the result a “sigh of relief” despite costing his own team a win.
“The time ran out,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what I saw, and I wasn’t expecting it. I’m happy it wasn’t a loss, and I’m sad it wasn’t a win. It’s a tie. It’s a heck of a lot better than a loss, and it’s not as good as a win.”
