Sunday's gritty win the kind that can serve Giants well in playoffs

On Sunday night, the Giants finally got their first division victory of the season. And with it, they almost certainly secured their first ticket to the postseason since 2016.

In Brian Daboll’s first year as Giants coach, that seems like reason to celebrate.

Or not.

Daboll was more interested Monday in talking about how the Giants had won, defeating Washington in a gritty, back-and-forth game.

After taking the lead with 13:10 to go in the second quarter on rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux’s incredible sack-and-strip touchdown on a 1-yard fumble return, the Giants never trailed. But that hardly told the story. It was a topsy-turvy affair that almost certainly will serve the Giants well in the postseason if they get there.

(Also fair: After playing twice in three weeks, these two teams probably need a break from each other.)

Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke is one of those never-quit players who takes an opponent to the limit. In the game’s final 1:55, he drove Washington to the Giants’ 1, where an apparent touchdown was nullified by a penalty. Finally, after two incompletions, the Giants prevailed.

“The game really starts up front on both sides of the ball,” Daboll said. “I think there were definitely some good plays by those guys, the front four. But also with the offensive line. And there’s certainly things we got to do better. Again, [we] gave up some yards rushing [159]. Got to keep continuing to work on that.”

You could make the case that the almost-certainly-playoff- bound Giants will be better because of a game like that.

“We’re 8-5-1; we went 1-0 this week,” Daboll said. “And I’d say that there are a lot of guys that contributed to the outcome of the game, made some good plays in critical times. That’s what we’re going to need going forward.”

The player who contributed most was Thibodeaux. In addition to the strip-sack touchdown, he made 12 tackles, none bigger than on a second-and-goal from the 10 on the final drive. Heinicke scrambled toward the goal line and Thibodeaux, who was in coverage in the end zone, ran up to stop him at the 1. It was quite the game for the 22-year-old outside linebacker.

Said Daboll: “I’m glad we drafted him.”

After Sunday’s game, Thibodeaux said he expected to make an impact. Two weeks earlier, he had the opportunity to not only sack Heinicke but to get the ball out. On that day, he settled for the sack. His teammates challenged him to complete the job against Heinicke this time, and he did.

“Honestly, it’s a manifestation, he said. “I talked to my mom before the game and she said it was on her heart to tell me, ‘You can do anything you put your mind to.’ I have to say it and believe it, and I have to do it.”

For Daboll, who rarely breaks character, it seemed as if the win over Washington, as well as the train ride home, provided some perspective that he doesn’t often share.

“Every time you win a game, that’s part of the joy of being a coach — seeing the players in the locker room with a smile on their face, seeing the coaches.

“We all know everybody in this business puts a lot of time, effort and energy into trying to get the outcome that we hope for. And when you do, it’s good to be happy about it. Our guys were excited.”

Now the focus is on the Vikings on Christmas Eve.

“We’re trying to get ready to go for this upcoming week, put a lot into it,” Daboll said. “I think it’s important to see players put a lot of work and effort into it and get the results that they’re hoping for. So that’s been really the case all year. And not get too down when you don’t get the results, not get too high when you get the results.”

That’s been Daboll’s mantra all season long, through the wins and the losses. And, of course, the tie.

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.