3 ways the Giants completely blew it in loss to Washington

The New York Giants had numerous opportunities to win, but there were three in particular that cost them their game against the Washington Football Team.

2021 was supposed to be the season where the New York Giants took the leap from a rebuilding organization into a playoff contender. Their offseason moves showed just that. But it is truly stunning the Giants had so many opportunities to win on Thursday night against the Washington Football Team, and they fumbled it away like a Daniel Jones turnover.

The Giants ended up losing by the heartbreaking score of 30-29 following a 43-yard field goal by Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins. They now sit at 0-2 on a lengthy wait until Week 3. Bad teams make bad mistakes, and here are three ways the Giants threw away the easy win.

New York Giants blew it in loss to Washington

3. Offsides on Dustin Hopkins’ missed field goal

Of course, we must start with the monumental mistake that officially drove the dagger into the heart of the Giants fanbase. With the clock ticking down and neither team holding possession of a timeout. Hopkins attempted a 48-yard field goal, but the kick just missed, seemingly giving the Giants the win.

There was one problem — defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence was offsides before the ball was snapped.

That gave Washington a five-yard gain and an opportunity to win the game. They did, and celebrated at FedEx Field while the Giants dejectedly walked into the locker room. Head coach Joe Judge’s expertise is in special teams, which makes this mistake even more perplexing.

2. Darius Slayton’s drop

The Giants would have never gotten in this situation in the offsides situation had Darius Slayton made ‘that catch’. By that, we mean the dropped pass from quarterback Daniel Jones in the end zone.

Slayton, who had already hauled in an end zone pass from Jones earlier the game, took advantage of broken coverage in Washington’s secondary to find himself all alone running towards the end zone. Jones unleashed a deep pass to Slayton, who proceeded to juggle the ball on his finger tips and watched it hit the turf.

Giants fans had flashbacks of Evan Engram dropping that walk-in touchdown pass from Jones last season against the Eagles in Philadelphia. As it turns out, the drop turned out to be just as costly.

1. Taking 16-seconds off the clock after James Bradberry’s interception

There is simply no excusing this.

New York’s defense had a rough game overall against Washington’s offense, led by quarterback Taylor Heinicke. It appeared as though the Giants were about to surrender the game-winning drive to Washington, until cornerback James Bradberry picked off a pass intended for wide receiver Terry McLaurin. This gave the Giants the opportunity to either score a touchdown, or kill enough time to kick a field goal and leave Washington little to no time to kick the game-winner.

Instead, New York decided to play conservatively with over two minutes remaining. On first and second down, Saquon Barkley ran for one- and two-yards. Then, a Jones pass to Sterling Shepard went incomplete, killing a grand total of 16-seconds off the clock.

Graham Gano (who was money for the Giants all night), made the easy 35-yard field goal to give New York the 29-27 lead, which ultimately turned into a 30-29 loss after leaving Washington two whole minutes on the clock.

If this game was evidence enough, the Giants need to learn how to close out games, and fast.