Why Washington’s win over the New York Giants was ugly

Dustin Hopkins (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)

There is no doubt that the Washington Football Team’s 30-29 win over the New York Giants on Thursday was ugly. It was just the latest example of just how bad games in the NFC East actually are.  Sure, it was an exciting game with a lot of offense, and came down to the final play of the game with a last second field goal to determine the winner, but along the way, there were simply a ton of mistakes on both sides.

The major reason for the Giants’ struggles came down to penalties. A holding penalty by Giants wide receiver C.J. Board wiped out a 58-yard touchdown run by Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. Instead, New York had to settle for a field goal. Then on the final play of the game, Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins missed a 48-yard field goal which would have given the Giants a 29-27 win. Instead, Giants defensive end Dexter Lawrence was offside, which gave Hopkins a second chance, of which he delivered on from 43 yards.

Then there was the drop by Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton. Jones threw the ball in a perfect position. Slayton easily passed the Washington secondary. There was literally not a Washington player within 30 yards of Slayton, and he dropped the ball in the end zone. The drop will go down as one of the biggest bloopers in NFL history.

There was also a significant Washington mistake as well. Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke threw a horrible interception to James Braderry with Washington leading 27-26 late in the game. Why Washington was not running on the play was not just a terrible decision by Heinicke, but the entire Washington coaching staff as well.

Further to that point, Washington and New York are drastically underutilizing both of their running backs. Washington needs to give more carries to Antonio Gibson, and the Giants need to use Saquon Barkley more. Both Gibson and Barkley only had 13 carries each. They should each be getting a minimum of 20+ carries per game. Gibson had 69 yards, while Barkley only had 57.

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