For most New York Giants players and fans, it was tough to say how they should have felt after the franchise’s 27-27 overtime tie with the Washington Commanders in Week 5.
Head coach John Harbaugh summed it up best, saying he was “happy it wasn’t a loss and sad it wasn’t a win.” It was a performance that showed two very different sides of his locker room on either side of halftime.
Even SI’s Conor Orr seemed stuck in the middle about how to analyze Big Blue’s surprising final result, which is why he held firm on their spot in his weekly MMQB NFL power rankings, leaving the Giants at No. 21 ahead of Week 6.
“I think my favorite part of the disastrous end-of-game Commanders-Giants footage is when Deonte Banks flies across the line of scrimmage after the clock strikes zero. Followed closely by the fact that the most game situation-aware player on the field during that moment was rookie Arvell Reese,” Orr said.
Sunday’s draw might go down as one of the craziest finishes of the season, but for Harbaugh’s Giants, it was a Week 5 testament to the never-say-die culture the Super Bowl-winning coach has instilled in every player and coach under his wing.
Aside from another week of less-than-favorable weather, the Giants fell behind the Commanders early as their offense struggled to move the ball. Even when they did, the kicking game didn't help, as Dominic Zvada missed three field goals.
The Commanders came out swinging in the second half. They scored back-to-back touchdowns off the speedy legs of quarterback Jayden Daniels to extend their lead to 27-13 entering the final frame of regulation.
Given the organization’s recent history, that used to be the kind of situation that would make the Giants keel over and accept defeat.
Instead, they made the right adjustments, including letting Jameis Winston go a little off-script and testing the Commanders’ secondary with his arm and a duo of active pass-catchers in Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely.
The result was Winston regaining his confidence as he completed 74.6% of his passes in the second half, including three touchdown connections to Nabers and Likely that leveled the score and gave the Giants a chance to win in overtime.
New York never found the one scoring play it needed to escape Washington with the coveted win, but the tie helped it hold its first-place lead in the division.
More importantly, Winston found a way to silence the outside critics who were about two more ugly quarters away from shouting from the rooftops for the recently acquired backup J.J. McCarthy to supplant him as the starter.
The only question that lingers is whether he and the Giants offense can learn from the few mistakes that nearly cost them the game against the Commanders and get back into the win column next Sunday, when they host the New Orleans Saints at MetLife Stadium.
Any result on the NFL gridiron can offer some takeaways for a growing team, and this past week’s game showed that the Giants have the heart and talent to compete with whoever is in front of them and overcome adversity.
Even against tougher opponents in the second half of the year, that fight should remind everyone that an early lead on the scoreboard won’t be enough to feel comfortable that they’ve buried this Giants team.
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