Flags, flops and guts, Commanders finish with a whimper in tie originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — His arm isn’t great and he’s barely six foot, but when it comes down to guts nobody told Taylor Heinicke he doesn’t belong.
A loss seemed imminent and Washington‘s offense couldn’t get anything going, but with less than four minutes remaining and trailing by a touchdown, Heinicke engineered an eight-play, 90-yard touchdown drive to tie things up at 20.
From there the Giants went three and out and Washington had an unlikely chance to win in regulation. That didn’t happen.
In overtime, Washington and New York traded possessions before the Giants were able to move the ball into field goal range. As time ran out, Giants kicker Graham Gano attempted and missed a 58-yard field goal ending the game with an unpleasant result: a 20-20 tie.
Washington now sits at 7-5-1 after their overtime comeback attempt came up short. The team gets to rest this week with a well-deserving bye and come back for another game against this same Giants team.
Early in the game, it looked like Washington might roll. With just under three minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Commanders took a 10-0 lead after Terry McLaurin scampered into the end zone.
At that moment, the good vibes of a three-game win streak were running high and it seemed Washington would march out of the New Jersey swamps with an 8-5 record.
Then the good vibes ended.
It was a flurry of penalties, the Commanders were flagged seven times for 57 yards, and also missed calls. The momentum of the game swung in the second quarter when Giants QB Daniel Jones connected on a 55-yard pass to Darius Slayton to change field position. It sure looked like Slayton pushed Washington defensive back Christian Holmes to create separation on the play, but the refs didn’t see it that way and no flag hit the turf.
From that moment forward, the Giants defense surged and Jones, combined with Saquon Barkley, was able to grind away a New York lead.
Stock Up
- Terry McLaurin – Washington’s best player continued his stellar play, scoring the team’s only touchdown en route to an eight-catch, 105-yard performance.
- Daron Payne – The soon-to-be free agent showed again how much cash he’s going to command on the open market. Payne had a bone-rattling sack of Giants QB Daniel Jones and provided consistent pressure throughout the game, as well as a huge sack of Jones in overtime.
- Jamin Davis – Recovered a first-quarter fumble and showed plenty of speed throughout the afternoon. Good in coverage too.
- Jahan Dotson – The rookie made an outrageous spin move to score the touchdown to tie things up.
- Taylor Heinicke – What guts. Heinicke was having at best an average day until the final five minutes of the game, but when it mattered most, he showed up. The Legend of Taylor Heinicke added another chapter on Sunday.
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Stock Down
- Refs – It’s dumb to blame this loss on the referee crew but man did the zebras have a huge impact on the game. There was the missed offensive pass interference that should have come in the first half but perhaps more egregious was a no-call that came just before halftime. McLaurin ran to the end zone and broke toward the right sideline. He got tugged on by the Giants defender, and the back judge threw a flag. Penalty. But after a few minutes of discussion with the other officials, the flag got picked up and it was announced there was no penalty. Later in the game, Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux ripped off the helmet of Washington tackle Cornelius Lucas. Ripping off a helmet is illegal, but no flag came out. For the game, Washington was flagged seven times to New York’s four.
- Christian Holmes – The seventh-round rookie corner had a tough game and was eventually benched for veteran Danny Johnson. Washington got away with the absence of Benjamin St-Juste last week against Atlanta but against the Giants his absence was crucial. This team needs St-Juste back in a big way.
- Logan Thomas – On one drive the tight end had both an illegal blocking penalty and a false start. On one drive! Not a great day for the vet.
