The New York Giants opened Week 10 with a gut-punch, falling 24-21 to the Washington Commanders on Thursday night, and the final sequence left plenty of questions hanging over the offense.
With less than a minute left and a chance to at least get into field-goal range and force overtime, the Giants came up empty on their last possession. The finishing sequence ended with an interception, and John Harbaugh’s explanation afterward did little to calm the noise around it.
When asked about J.J. McCarthy’s final two throws, Harbaugh kept it short.
“Zero blitzes, zero blitzes, and those are the routes that end up getting run,” Harbaugh said.
That answer points to Washington’s pressure package as the key factor, and there’s no denying the Commanders’ defense had a major hand in the result. But it also puts the spotlight on what the Giants were asking their quarterback to do in such a high-leverage moment. If the expectation was that those routes would be open against an all-out blitz, the execution never matched the plan.
McCarthy, for his part, didn’t duck responsibility. He finished 23 of 36 for 293 yards and a touchdown, and he helped put the Giants ahead in the fourth quarter with a 66-yard touchdown strike to Isaiah Likely. Still, the offense couldn’t close.
Asked about the final sequence, McCarthy said he understood how it would look after the fact.
“I’m sure you could look at the tape, and we’re gonna be sitting there disappointed. What if, could’ve done this,” McCarthy said.
“Could have bought more time with a little bit more depth. But at the end of the day the thought process was, give it to one of my guys and have them go make a play.”
Harbaugh also said he thought McCarthy played very well overall, which only makes the last possession stand out more. If the quarterback was operating well and Washington was coming with zero blitzes, then the play design and the decisions behind it deserve a hard look too.
The loss leaves the Giants with a missed chance in the NFC East, and Thursday night’s ending will linger because it was there for the taking.
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