East Rutherford, N.J. — In week two against the G-Men, Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke completed 34 passes, the most by a Washington quarterback against the Giants in a single game in franchise history.
Heinicke picked up where he left off and led Washington 76 yards down the field for a six-minute drive to set up a 23-yard field goal by Joey Slye that gave Washington a 3-0 lead at 9:07 in the first quarter.
NY fell, 22-7, to Washington in their regular season finale at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon in East Rutherford. Washington improved to 7-10 on the season, while NYG ended the 2021 season with a 4-13 record. This is just the second 13-loss season in Giants history and the sixth-straight game in which the Giants lost by 10 or more points.
NY are now 10-23 under Joe Judge, 19-46 under GM Dave Gettleman, 22-59 since their last winning season (2016) and 61-100 since their last Super Bowl championship.
“Obviously, the fans deserve better than what we gave them this year,” Judge said. “Our team deserves better than what we accomplished this year. I have much higher expectations as a team. I’m never going to compromise or negotiate on that. My expectations are what they are.”
The G-Men had just one possession in the opening quarter.
The Giants’ lack of production in the offense was on full display at the end of the first half. On second-and-11 from the two, Jake Fromm run a QB sneak up the middle. On third-and-9 on the following play from the four-yard line, the Giants called for the same play again, failed to move the chains, they had to punt the ball.
“Do we want to do that all the time we’re backed up? No, but that was the situation today with where we were,” Judge said. “I wanted to make sure the issues last week in Chicago, that wasn’t going to repeat itself.”
The Giants got on the board at 11:29 when Fromm connected with Darius Slayton over the middle for a 22-yard touchdown to make it 12-7. It was Fromm’s first touchdown of his NFL career. The score was also the first touchdown by a Giants receiver since Oct. 24, 2021, Week 7 of the season.
Washington running back Antonio Gibson led the team gaining 146 yards in 21 carries averaging 7.0 yards per carry. Leading 12-7 Gibson had an 18-yard touchdown run which culminated an eight-play, 72 yard drive. Gibson’s touchdown came with 6:28 remaining and put Washington up 19-7, and with the Giants problems on offense, the game was well in hand.
A fumble recovery by Washington on the Giants’ following drive gave the Football Team back the ball on the Giants 12-yard line and set up a 23-yard field goal by Slye to make it 22-7. Washington maintained that lead for the remainder of the game.
After the game, Washington coacn Ron Rivera addressed Judge’s comments from earlier in the week.
“He didn’t know what our guys were going through. To make a comment like that was unfair,” Rivera said. “People don’t understand [they’ve] going through an awful lot in a short period of time.”
Rivera said he talked to Judge briefly after the game and that everything between them is “fine.”
Halftime stats
The Giants trailed, 6-0, at the half. In Jake Fromm’s second NFL start, he was four of seven for 16 yards.
The Giants had two first downs and the Football Team had eight. New York recorded 48 yards in the half while Washington recorded 177 yards.
Washington controlled the time of possession battle as they held the ball for 17:30 while the Giants had possession for 12:30.
The Giants finished the season outscored 79-0 in the final two minutes of first halves.
They closed out another lost season with their sixth consecutive defeat. They’re tied with the Jets for the worst record in the NFL since 2017, and again are faced with questions of uncertainty on and off the field.
