Washington fights back; Riverboat Ron gambles but comes up short

The Washington Football team fell to 1-5 on the season after a 20-19 loss to the Giants on a failed two-point conversion attempt at the end of the game.

The Giants earned their first win under first-year Coach Joe Judge.

Washington again shows it doesn’t quit, coming back from a 13-3 deficit, and had a chance to win it with: 36 left, but the conversion failed.

Riverboat Ron makes an appearance: The Giants took the lead after Tae Crowder returned a Kyle Allen fumble for a touchdown with 3:29 to play. Allen then took Washington down the field and threw a touchdown to Cam Sims with under a minute to go. Rather than settle for the tie, Ron Rivera decides to go for the win. He has developed the reputation of gambling, and Sunday was no different.

“I’m going for it,” Rivera told reporters after the game. “The intent is to learn how to win football games. That’s a part of my philosophy, the only way to learn to win is to play to win, and that’s what I want those guys to understand, that’s the mentality.”

The Giants had good coverage on the attempt and Allen’s pass fell incomplete.

The move will be second guessed all week, but the one thing Rivera has done this year is show confidence in his team that he thinks they can succeed. Washington was successful on two fourth down conversions in the game on Sunday as well.

Turnovers prove costly again: This team isn’t good enough to overcome mistakes, even to a winless team. Kyle Allen’s first interception led to a Giants touchdown and then the Allen fumble late in the game was returned for a touchdown. These things simply can’t happen if this team wants to win games.

Defense gives up big plays again: On the Giants opening drive they had plays of 21-yards and 14-yards. Their second drive ended on a Darius Slayton 23-yard touchdown reception. Daniel Jones then scampered 49-yards on a play in the second quarter. Washington has given up nine plays of 40 plus yards this year. Again, this team isn’t good enough to overcome big plays on a consistent basis.

One of the lone bright spots on defense was Kendall Fuller. He notched his fourth interception in three games when he picked off Daniel Jones in the end zone.

Injuries on offense: Sunday was the debut of rookie fourth-round pick Saahdiq Charles after being sidelined the first five weeks with a calf injury. On Washington’s second play from scrimmage Charles went down with a left knee injury. He walked gingerly off the field and never returned.

Fellow rookie, wide receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden, was also injured on the first drive. He suffered a hamstring injury and never returned.

Kicking game question marks: Dustin Hopkins missed another field goal and is now 5-7 on the year. Washington loses by one, what happens if he makes that early in the game?

The trip through the NFC East continues next Sunday when Dallas comes to FedEx Field.

George Wallace

George Wallace is the WTOP sports director. He began at WTOP on Christmas Day of 2000.

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