Grading the Giants' Week 10 loss to the Commanders

OFFENSE: C
J.J. McCarthy threw for a career-high 293 yards, including a 66-yard TD pass to Isaiah Likely and the Giants scored three touchdowns. But when the offense gets the ball with a lead and 5:27 left, it can’t give it back to the Commanders three times on two punts and an interception. Malik Nabers was held to five catches for 44 yards, but the bigger issue was his fumble that ended a promising drive late in the third quarter and his inability to come down with the last pass of the game. That would have been a remarkable catch, but that’s what remarkable players are supposed to do. Cam Skattebo scored twice on the ground and had a nice run after catching an underhand toss from McCarthy.

DEFENSE: C
Coming away with two late fourth-quarter interceptions against a quarterback who hadn’t thrown any this season should have been enough to win the game. But the picks by Jevon Holland and Ar’Darius Washington were nullified by the game-winning touchdown, as Stefon Diggs beat Dru Phillips for a 32-yard catch and run. A pass interference penalty against Deonte Banks ignited that drive. The only other time the defense buckled was at the end of the first half when the Commanders went ahead 10-7 on a 9-play, 57-yard drive. The Giants nearly held on a goal-line stand but Ben Sinnott beat Jason Pinnock for a 1-yard TD catch on third-and-goal with 5 seconds left. Arvell Reese made 13 tackles, but the Giants had just one sack and two hits on Jayden Daniels.

SPECIAL TEAMS: F
It’s amazing to think things could have been worse had practice squadder Chandler Martin not recovered the fumble by Gregory Desrosiers on a kickoff return in the final minute. As it was the unit was unreliable. Rookie kicker Dominic Zvada is becoming a handicap for the team, missing a 33-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter. He missed four of six field-goal attempts in the two games against Washington, a tie and a loss. In this game, he also had one kickoff go out of bounds that gave the Commanders the ball at the 40 after the Giants had taken a 21-17 lead with 8:13 remaining. Even the normally reliable Jordan Stout came up small; after some clutch punts that included a 68-yarder from his own endzone and two that were downed inside the 20, he produced an ugly 14-yarder that gave Washington the ball at the 29 to start the game-winning drive.

COACHING: D
The Giants played the final series like they were down by four points instead of three, clearly shooting for a touchdown once they crossed midfield when a field goal would have tied the score. That may be a function of not trusting Zvada, but that’s on the coaching staff for sticking with him. The last two deep throws looked more like do-or-die rolls of the dice than plays called to get them into range to send the game into overtime. Should the Giants have tried to ice the game on fourth-and-inches from the 11, rather than just try to draw the Commanders offsides with that “Who Let The Dogs Out” barking that Jameis Winston provided on a play that was never going to be snapped? Probably not, but even if it failed and Washington scored on a short field at least they would have had time for a rebuttal.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

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.