East Rutherford, N.J. —As both teams left the football field with a 20-20 tie on Sunday, you would of thought both teams lost the Super Bowl. The tie does keep the G-Men in front of the Commanders in the NFC playoff standings for now.
Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera was at a loss for words at the media post press conference.
“I addressed them and I really wasn’t sure how to address them,” Rivera said. “We came up here and expected to win. We didn’t. We tied. It doesn’t hurt us. It doesn’t help us because these are the guys we are competing with right now.”
NY Giants (7-4-1) ended a two-game losing streak, while the Commanders (7-5-1) are unbeaten in four (3-0-1) and have only one loss in their last eight games.
The G-Men had a win within their grasp but poor tackling and gap assignment issues were there Achilles heel.
The Giants had a chance to win on the game’s final play, but a 58-yard Graham Gano field goal attempt fell a few yards short. The tie game was the first for the G-Men since a 7-7 tie with Washington in 1997.
“We were about five yards away from it,” Gano said. “We knew that going in but at the end of the game you got to take a shot at it.”
On their previous overtime possession, the Giants had reached the Washington 45-yard line, but punted after a botched third-and-3 play led to a run for no gain by Daniel Jones.
Coach Brian Daboll wasn’t sure what the tie would do to the Giants’ playoff chances.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said. “There’s a long way to go. Better than if it was a loss, not as good as if it was a win.”
With 1:42 left in overtime, the Giants punted instead of going for the first down. Daboll said he “potentially” might have gone for the first down on fourth-and-1, but punted on fourth-and-3, playing for another possession. The NYG got the possession at their 43-yard line with:28 seconds to play in OT, but only moved the ball to the Washington 40-yard line. The Giants needed 10-yards realistically to give Gano a legitimate shot for the game winning field goal. He just came up a little short.
Daniel Jones, who finished 25 of 31 for 200 yards looked more comfortable in the pocket in the second half and looked comfortable throwing down the field.
INJURIES
Commanders: LT Sam Cosmi left in the third quarter with an ankle injury. C Tyler Larsen was carted off the field after being hurt in the fourth quarter. Coach Rivera had no injury update after the game.
Giants: Top DL Leonard Williams left in the second half with a neck injury. He said he was going to talk to the trainers after the game.
UP NEXT:
Commanders: Have a bye and then play host to the Giants on Dec. 18.
Giants will play the Eagles at MetLife on Dec. 11 at 1 P.M.
