Giants beat Commanders, break 7-5-1 tie in the standings

LANDOVER, Md. — Well, that was more entertaining than a tie.

The Giants did exactly what they had to do on Sunday night, defeating the Washington Commanders, 20-12, in a game that, in tantalizing fashion, maintained the possibility of another tie almost until the final horn.

The Giants and Commanders had played to a 20-20 tie two weeks ago, and there was the distinct possibility that they would bring the same score into overtime Sunday night.

Washington was stopped after reaching the Giants’ 5 and the Giants’ 1 on its final two possessions, and now the Giants have roughly a 90% chance to be a playoff team. It would be their first playoff berth since 2016.

A year ago, the Giants' Dexter Lawrence left FedEx Field having jumped offsides on a final field-goal attempt. Washington made good on the second chance, and the Giants lost the game.

This year had a totally different feel. On the Commanders’ final play, on fourth-and-goal from the 6, Lawrence pressured Taylor Heineke as he targeted receiver Curtis Samuel, and with Darnay Holmes in coverage, the pass fell incomplete. One drive earlier,  on third-and-4 from the Giants' 5 with the Giants holding a five-point lead,  Lawrence forced a fumble by Heinicke  that was recovered by teammate Leonard Williams. It set up Graham Gano's second 50-yard field goal of the game, which gave the Giants a 20-12 lead.

“That’s kind of cool,” Lawrence said. “Last year I caused the loss. This year, I helped us win.”

The win improved the Giants’ record to 8-5-1 and allowed them to jump ahead of Washington to hold the sixth seed in the current NFC playoff picture. Washington (7-6-1) holds the seventh spot ahead of the Lions and Seahawks, both 7-7. According to fivethirtyeight.com, the Giants have an 87% chance of making the playoffs with three games remaining. Washington’s odds fell to 34%.

On this night, Daniel Jones won in prime time for the first time in 10 tries. He finished 21-for-32 for 160 yards, was not sacked and did not throw an interception.

The Giants rushed for 128 yards. Saquon Barkley had 87 rushing yards on 18 attempts and added five receptions for 33 yards.

In the days before the game, Barkley said: “We’re a successful team this year. We’re a different team this year than we were in the past. We’re getting that opportunity in another prime-time game to go show that, and I feel like if we continue to trust each other, lean on each other, get that power and belief back, go out there, play for each other, anything can happen, right?”

After the game, Barkley said Sunday’s victory was perhaps his favorite as a pro.

After taking a 14-3 lead, the Giants still led 17-12 and   barely held on.

After Heinicke hit Jahan Dotson with a 61-yard pass and the Commanders drove to the 5, Lawrence and Azeez Ojulari combined for a sack on third down.  Fittingly,  first-year head coach Brian Daboll —- who has pushed so many of the right buttons this season —- made one of the biggest plays of the game at that point. Heinicke originally was ruled down by contact, but Daboll challenged the call and it was  reversed, giving Lawrence a forced fumble and Williams a fumble recovery.

After Gano's field goal, Washington didn’t get the ball back until there was 1:55 left. The Commanders drove to the Giants’ 1 with 1:03 left — a tackle by Kayvon Thibodeaux stopped Heinicke from scoring after a 9-yard gain — and were pushed back on an illegal-formation penalty before Heinicke threw two incomplete passes and the Giants took over on downs at the 6 with 48 seconds left.

The Giants led 14-3 at halftime thanks to a stellar defensive play by Thibodeaux and a massive 97-yard touchdown drive.

Thibodeaux, who already had posted three tackles for a loss on the first two possessions, came around the edge to sack Heinicke and knock the ball from the quarterback’s hand. The rookie linebacker wasn’t finished, though. He quickly spun to his feet, located the ball, scooped it at the 1 and ran it into the end zone.

It was the first touchdown scored by any Giants unit besides the offense this season and it gave them a 7-3 lead with 13:10 left in the second quarter.

Washington punted on its next possession and downed the ball at the 3, pinning the Giants deep in their own territory. They embarked on an arduous 97-yard drive to the opposite end zone with an 18-play march that ate up 8:35 of the second quarter.

There were only three plays on the journey that gained more than 10 yards and Jones was 10-for-12 for 91 yards before Barkley ran it in from the 3 off a direct snap with 1:43 left before halftime. It capped the Giants’ longest touchdown drive since 2014 and gave them a 14-3 lead.

Unlike two weeks ago, when Daboll was criticized for being conservative and seeming as if he lacked confidence in Jones and the offense in the 20-20 tie against Washington, the coach was back to the brash risk-taking that colored the first parts of this season.

The gutsiest call was just before the two-minute warning when the Giants could have attempted a 53-yard field goal for a potential 10-3 lead but instead tried to convert a fourth-and-9 from the Washington 35. It stood in stark contrast with the two times earlier in the game when Commanders coach Ron Rivera chose to punt from Giants territory (one of them so surprising at the 34-yard line that the Giants had to call a timeout because they were not expecting it). The Giants’ gamble worked and Jones threaded a pass to Richie James for a gain of 11 yards and a first down that extended the drive.

Washington opened its second half with a 91-yard drive in six plays culminating in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Heinicke to Dotson.

Washington tried for a two-point conversion but was flagged for offensive pass interference and then elected to attempt to kick what became a 43-yard extra point. Joey Slye pushed it wide right and the Giants’ lead stood at 14-9 midway through the third quarter.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.