The Giants franchise had a 0-230 record since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger when trailing a game by 14 or more points in the final eight minutes of regulation.
After Sunday’s 27-27 tie at Washington, that record is now 0-230-1, per ESPN Stats & Information.
That statistic shows how impressive it was for Jameis Winston to lead that road comeback. But it also reveals that the Giants (3-1-1) played the kind of flawed football that results in a loss 99.6% of the time.
So that is where John Harbaugh’s focus will be as he immediately turns to preparations for next Sunday’s visit from the desperate New Orleans Saints (1-4): On the shortcomings that will start turning into Giants defeats if they continue to live on the edge.
“I’m very excited for the fact that we can improve so much,” Harbaugh said after Sunday’s fortunate ending. “We improved throughout the game. We did a lot of really good things. Our consistency level can get so much better. And all the little things, we can do better.”
The Giants want to get back to controlling games the way they did in Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys. Although they have not lost since Sept. 20 in Los Angeles, they have come dangerously close while going 2-0-1 in their last three games, including two goal line stands and an overtime division road game.
The Tennessee Titans had a 60% chance to win when Cam Ward dropped back to pass from the Giants’ 7-yard line with 24 seconds left and the Giants up five points in Week 3, per NextGen Stats.
The Arizona Cardinals had a 78% chance to win when Jacoby Brissett dropped back to pass from the Giants’ 4-yard line with 22 seconds left and the Giants up 6 points in Week 4.
Then the Commanders had a 79% to win when Rachaad White took a handoff from Jayden Daniels at the Giants’ 24-yard line with 55 seconds left in overtime on Sunday.
Harbaugh seems to be changing the way the Giants respond to adversity and in-game setbacks, which is a great sign for the future of his program.
“One thing that has become very evident is what is inside our players,” Harbaugh said. “Their heart, their grit, their mental toughness, their ability to overcome adversity is A-plus-plus-plus.”
But there are some undeniable areas the head coach is going to target for improvement this week.
For starters, the interior defensive line and the run defense are problems. The Giants defense is allowing 5.2 yards per carry to opposing rushers, tied for second worst in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders. Only the Carolina Panthers (5.4) allow more.
Washington’s runners went virtually untouched on three different Commanders rushing touchdowns from distance on Sunday: two by Daniels (38 yards, 26 yards) and one by Jacory Croskey-Merritt (33 yards).
“I think we’ve had too many chunk plays overall,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve been feast or famine in the run game.”
Backup defensive tackles Darius Alexander and C.J. Okoye were on for the first two rushing TDs by Croskey-Merritt and Daniels. Abdul Carter vacated his gap on a rush to leave the middle of the field wide open on one of Daniels’ TDs.
Middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds had some rough snaps on the second level, including on both of Daniels’ TDs. And safety Tyler Nubin’s angle on Croskey-Merritt’s rushing TD was bad.
“He definitely got off for a couple big runs,” Carter said of Daniels. “We’ve got to be more disciplined in our rush lanes. We gotta be better at that.”
Second, ball security is rearing its head as a major issue.
Cam Skattebo has been charged with a fumble in four of the Giants’ five games, although he has only lost one and disputes that his Week 2 fumble in Los Angeles was nothing more than a harmless out of bounds strain.
Najee Harris, Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Winston all have lost fumbles, and Jaxson Dart and Isaiah Likely have put the ball on the ground while seeing teammates fall on it, too.
“I’ve never been the fumble guy,” said Skattebo, who cost the Giants Sunday’s win with an overtime fumble forced by Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne. “I hate to even put that on myself. I don’t even care about that stuff.”
Skattebo said it was a “sight of relief” when the game ended in a tie instead of a loss.
“I probably won’t get reamed as much, but I’m still going to get reamed,” he said. “My number was called. I gave the ball up. If that happens again this year [where I get the ball in a key situation], I promise you it won’t happen.”
Harbaugh said Skattebo and the entire team needs to learn from those consistent ball security issues quickly. It doesn’t sound like he intends to make a dramatic change in personnel usage at running back — at least not yet — based on the fumbling.
“You can’t just throw your hands up and say, ‘Well, we’re just not good at it,’” Harbaugh said. “We have to believe in our players. We understand that at some point in time, it becomes unacceptable but we’re not there yet. We’ve got guys that want to do the right thing.”
Third, the Giants’ seven penalties on Sunday bring their total to 37 through five games. Six of their seven penalties at Washington were called on the Giants’ offense, including three on Likely (two illegal shifts and a false start).
Their penalty count is a little above the league average, but this offense especially can’t afford to shoot itself in the foot.
The Giants had back-to-back penalties on their opening drive that backed them up and led to a missed Dominic Zvada field goal. Then Winston’s offense had a delay of game penalty on 3rd and 4 from the Washington 5-yard line late in the third quarter.
Only a disputed pass interference call on Commanders corner Amik Robertson after an interception on the goal line gave the Giants new life to score a touchdown.
“Bullsh–,” Robertson said of the penalty. “But you know, referees want a TV timeout. I get it, you know. Bullsh–.”
Harbaugh noted that he and his coaching staff have been able to pivot week-to-week so far to find new ways of concealing weaknesses and highlighting strengths of their shorthanded and evolving roster.
They are without Dart, edge rusher Brian Burns, wide receiver Calvin Austin and defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris already, among others, after all.
“We as a coaching staff do a great job of kind of finding our identity in some of these different areas, and we will,” Harbaugh said.
Sunday’s offensive adjustment from offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was to go no-huddle — with Winston throwing the ball more in the second half — and then execute better run plays late with the defense backed off.
The Giants’ defensive adjustment from coordinator Dennard Wilson has to bring a ton more pressure.
The Giants defense had blitzed on just 27.6% of quarterback drop backs in their first three games. In their last two, they’ve blitzed 57.9% of the time. That included blitzing Daniels on 62.2% of his drop backs, the highest rate in a Giants game this season, per NextGen Stats.
Harbaugh said Monday that it was extremely rare for both the Giants and Commanders to run zero coverage down the stretch of Sunday’s game, which means stacking the line of scrimmage with bodies and putting no safety on the back end.
Wilson didn’t do it simply to hurry Daniels’ passes, either. He did it to fill the quarterback’s running lanes with Giants bodies, since the defensive line wasn’t able to contain him on more traditional looks and the rest of the Giants’ defenders had breakdowns covering their ground on those plays out of man to man.
The Saints and Houston Texans will present new challenges before the Giants’ Week 8 bye. And although Harbaugh and the Giants are excited about having only one loss through the first five weeks of his first New York season, they will not stop to pat themselves on the back.
They know they are literally three plays away from being 1-4, and while it’s encouraging that they’ve made some plays in those moments so far, they had a good amount of luck on their side Sunday.
And there is no way they can count on that.
