Giants-Commanders ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’: Plenty of credit, and blame, to go around

If I were writing this from a Washington Commanders' angle, the brutal clock management by Washington at the end of Sunday's overtime tie would receive a massive "Wet Willie." I'm writing from a New York Giants angle, though, so maybe it should get "Kudos."

You decide. I'm flummoxed. As, I think is everyone else with how Sunday's 27-27 game ended up.

Before we get to the 'Kudos & Wet Willies,' a couple of absolutely wild numbers.

Per the FOX broadcast, the Giants had lost 24 straight games when trailing at halftime. Well, at least now they have not lost 25 straight.

From ESPN Insights , comes this unbelievable nugget. Entering today, the Giants were 0-230 since 1970 when trailing by 14+ points in the final 8 minutes of regulation. They're now 0-230-1.

Now, here is your 'Kudos & Wet Willies' review.

Jameis Winston — After an uninspiring Week 2 game in his first start, even Winston was wondering if he could still throw the ball. Well, umm, he can.

After a 7 of 16 first half that included a costly sack/fumble, Winston finished 33 of 54 for 326 yards, and three touchdowns. The Giants scored all four times they touched the ball in the second half (three touchdowns, a field goal) and would have scored both times they had the ball in overtime had Dominic Zvada not missed a field goal and Cam Skattebo not fumbled with the game seemingly in hand.

After halftime, Winston was 26 of 38 for 54 yards. He made big throw after big throw, though it is fair to mention that the Giants did get bailed out by a ticky-tack defensive pass interference call that negated a third-quarter interception at the goal line by Washington's Amik Robertson.

Still, credit to Winston. Without a running game to speak of until a 19-yard run by Skattebo in overtime, the veteran quarterback carried the Giants' offense with his arm and some veteran savvy.

The Giants have emphasized ball security with the always-willing-to-take-a-risk Winston. Sunday, per NextGen Stats, this happened:

Winston's 54 pass attempts were the most in a game in his career in which he did not throw an interception. Winston had thrown at least one interception in each of his prior eight career games with 50-or-more pass attempts.

Isaiah Likely — During the first couple of games after Jaxson Dart's season-ending injury, the connection between Likely and Winston looked uncertain. Not Sunday. The talented tight end caught 11 passes on 13 targets for 94 yards and 2 touchdowns. The second touchdown, which pulled the Giants within 27-20 with 7:20 to play, came on a 17-yard pass where Likely barely got across the goal line before fumbling the ball.

NextGen Stats had some details on how Likely did what he did on Sunday:

Isaiah Likely ran 87.0% of his routes from the slot in Week 5, catching 9 of his 11 targets for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns when doing so. Likely now leads all tight ends with 195 receiving yards from the slot entering the afternoon slate. Likely also added an 11-yard reception from a tight alignment and a 5-yard reception from the backfield.

Dru Phillips — Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson was dialing up the pressure, especially as things got dire late in the game. Phillips ended up with two sacks and a big impact on the passing game.

Andru Phillips rushed the passer seven times in Week 5, generating four pressures and two sacks. All four of Phillips' pressures came in under 2.5 seconds. Entering today, Phillips had rushed the passer just 9 times this season, generating two pressures and no sacks.

Malik Nabers — The star wide receiver wanted the ball thrown his way more often, and on Sunday Winston and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy made sure that happened against the Commanders. Nabers was targeted an astounding 20 times. It wasn't always perfect as Nabers missed a couple of opportunities, including a second-half deep ball that might have been a touchdown.

Still, Nabers caught 11 passes for 121 yards. He made a nice grab across the middle for a game-tying 17-yard touchdown with 1:43 to play. He also had receptions of 16, 17, and 20 yards.

This is back-to-back 100-yard receiving games for Nabers.

Abdul Carter — Carter got a sack when he chased down Jayden Daniels from behind. He forced a fumble. Pro Football Focus credited Carter with four hurries. The second-year edge defender was impactful, as has become customary.

Dennard Wilson — So much for the thinking that because of Jayden Daniels' ability to make huge plays with his legs, which he showed with 38- and 26-yard touchdown scrambles, that blitzing was a bad idea. With the Giants trailing in the second half and needing to force things to happen, Wilson threw caution to the wind with Cover Zero blitzes again and again. How often? This often:

Personally, I loved it. And, it helped the Giants stymie the Commanders' offense late in the game. Wilson simply seemed to decide that if the Giants were going to go down, they would go down throwing the biggest haymakers they could. And it worked. Somewhere, Wink Martindale is smiling. And maybe cursing, or lifting a glass, in approval.

Cam Little and the Jacksonville Jaguars — I just can't help jabbing the Philadelphia Eagles a little bit after a 19-17 loss on a 57-yard Little field goal. A game the Eagles took a lead in with :08 to play, only to give up a long kickoff return that put Little in position to be a hero.

Cam Skattebo — Ball security. Ball security. Ball security. John Harbaugh has emphasized it again and again. Sunday, Skattebo's inability to protect the football at a key time cost the Giants a victory in a football game they had in their grasp.

Skattebo fumbled with the Giants at the Commanders 24-yard line with a first down and the game in their hands. Until the ball fell out of Skattebo's.

That is four fumbles for Skattebo this season, the most of any running back in the league. That negated two big runs by Skattebo on that last Giants' overtime drive, a 19-yarder on third-and-2, and a 9-yarder to put the ball in clear field goal range at the Washington 29-yard line.

Washington's clock mismanagement meant Skattebo's fumble did not cause the the Giants to lose, but it certainly prevented them from winning.

Tyler Nubin — Multiple coaching staffs (three defensive backs coaching groups) have tried to address Nubin's propensity to take horrible angles against ballcarriers in the open field. None have succeeded.

For the second time this season, Nubin took an awful angle on a run play that went for a touchdown, but should not have. This time it was a 33-yard run by Jacory Croskey-Merritt on Washington's first drive. Nubin found himself on the bench in favor of Ar'Darius Washington before the end of the first half. Nubin did return to action in the second half, but his job is clearly in jeopardy. As it should be.

The rushing "attack" — Head coach John Harbaugh said during the week that the Giants were " just not good enough yet " running the ball. They certainly did not get any better on Sunday. The Giants ran the ball 28 times for 103 yards, 3.7 yards per carry. That was helped massively to overtime runs of 19 and 9 yards by Skattebo. There was also a 15-yard Winston scramble in there.

For the entirety of regulation, there was really no place for Skattebo, Najee Harris, Tyrone Tracy, or J.J. McCarthy to go. Some will point the finger at offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, and I understand it. The Giants, though, tried a variety of runs with a variety of ballcarriers. They could not block anything. I would guess the run-blocking grades are not going to be good ones when Pro Football Focus releases them.

Winston, Likely, Nabers, and the Commanders' stupidity bailed the Giants out on Sunday. If they are going to continue to have success, though, Harbaugh, Nagy, and run game designer Greg Roman are going to have to get this figured out. Asking Winston to play the way he did on Sunday on a weekly basis is not sustainable.

The McCarthy package — The J.J. McCarthy package was a flop. McCarthy made his Giants debut on Sunday. He was on the field for five plays. McCarthy ran twice for 2 yards. A shovel pass to Darnell Mooney went for a 5-yard loss, but was bailed out by a Washington facemask penalty. A screen pass to Malik Nabers for 14 yards was wiped out by an illegal shift. A zone read handoff to Tyrone Tracy went for a yard.

I appreciate effort of trying some way to involve the quarterback run in the offense, but everything done with McCarthy was predictable. As feared. The run game stunk Sunday, and the McCarthy package didn't help.

Dominic Zvada — The rookie made kicks of 51 and 56 yards, but missed wide right from 50 yards and wide left — badly — from 57 and 46 yards. The 46-yarder in overtime could have given the Giants a victory. The only thing saving this from being a 'Wet Willie' is that the Giants did not lose.

Those were Zvada's first misses after entering the game 9 of 9. Two of the misses were from long distance in difficult conditions, but the first off day of his career was costly.