Giants-Commanders feels like a continuation of 20-20 tie
Jeremy Reaves #39 of the Washington Commanders reacts after Graham Gano #9 of the New York Giants misses a potential game winning field goal in overtime at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Turns out the tie the Giants and Commanders played to just two weeks ago wasn’t the only football anomaly to come from their annual meetings. This Sunday night presents an even rarer wrinkle for the teams.
Because Washington had a bye in Week 14, it essentially is playing back-to-back games against the Giants. Because there was no actual winner in the previous get-together, this contest feels less like a stand-alone and more like a continuation of the last one.
The teams played just about five quarters of football to a 20-20 draw on Dec. 4. On Sunday, they’ll start the sixth quarter of their duel.
It’s why as he walked off the field after that most recent meeting, Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale made a point of saying to Commanders coach Ron Rivera: “See you in two weeks.”
“Every game’s a new game,” Martindale said on Thursday. “I know you’re trying to be 1-0 at the end of this week, but that’s what you felt like afterward coming out of there.”
While it is a strange quirk for the Giants, they did play a game against the Eagles between their Washington weeks. The Commanders had no such buffer.
This is only the third time since the 1970 merger that an NFL team will face the same opponent in consecutive regular-season games. It did happen last season, though, when the Browns lost to the Ravens in Week 12, had a bye, then won in Week 14 against the Ravens. Martindale was the defensive coordinator in Baltimore for those games.
The only other instance came in 1991 when the Seahawks and Chargers played in Weeks 9 and 11 with both teams having a Week 10 bye. Like the 2021 Browns and Ravens, they split those games.
The last time Washington played the same opponent twice in a row was 1966 in a home-and-home series with the Steelers.
The juxtaposition of these games does present a challenge for the coaching staffs to bring creativity to their game plans. Martindale said he did not coach the Dec. 4 game with the Dec. 18 game in mind.
“That would’ve been really smart, though,” he said. “I should’ve said yes. We were just trying to play that game and win that game. But you always try to hold something back during a game and bring it out in the fourth quarter. I’m talking about each individual game, not just this game but every game. So I wish I could tell you yes, but I’m too honest.”
None of this should overshadow the significance of the game to the playoff hopes of both squads.
The Commanders and Giants are tied at 7-5-1 and are holding on to the sixth and seventh playoff slots in the NFC. Thanks to the loss by Seattle (7-7) on Thursday night, the winner of this game will have a 90% chance of making the postseason. The loser won’t be eliminated but will face a more daunting challenge, especially if the Lions (6-7) beat the Jets on Sunday afternoon.
It’s why for many Giants this will be the biggest game in which they have played in the NFL. It certainly will be the biggest game any of them has ever played in a Giants uniform.
Or, if you look at it as a continuation of the last time they faced Washington, the biggest two games.
While that tie still lingers as a disappointment for the Giants, it actually has some mathematical benefit. It eliminates any head-to-head tiebreaker scenarios with the Seahawks and Lions, both of whom already have beaten the Giants. In regard to those two teams, the tie was just as good as a victory. It also kept them even with the Commanders.
As offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said: “Not quite like a loss but not quite like a win.”
Sunday night’s game almost certainly will feel less ambiguous.
Giants center Jon Feliciano said someone jokingly suggested to him that if division teams play to a tie, their other meeting should count as two wins. He seemed to like that idea.
Of course, it was pointed out to him that it would have to count as two losses if the other guys came out on top.
He’d already thought about that.
Said Feliciano: “I’d take my chances.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
