Giants fail to force a single Washington punt, Malik Nabers with costly late drop in ugly 21-18 loss

LANDOVER, Md. — It’s hard to imagine the New York Giants won’t have a completely new regime in 2025 after this.

Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll watched their defense give up 215 yards rushing, converted into seven Austin Seibert field goals. Washington never punted.

Schoen and Daboll also made a costly decision to play injured kicker Graham Gano that backfired tremendously in a 21-18 road loss at Northwest Stadium when Gano got hurt covering the game’s opening kickoff.

That prompted two failed two-point conversions by Daniel Jones’ offense, which scored three touchdowns, and prevented the Giants from being able to kick a field goal in the red zone with the game tied 18 apiece late.

Jones was 16-of-28 for 178 yards passing and two touchdowns, hours after ESPN national insider Adam Schefter interestingly dropped a story pointing out Jones’ $23 million injury guarantee for 2025 as a potential factor in a future benching.

Rookie first-round pick Malik Nabers, who did most of the Giants’ offensive damage on the day, dropped a Daniel Jones fourth-and-4 throw from the 23-yard line to hand the ball back to Washington with 2:04 remaining and the game tied at 18 apiece.

Everyone in the stadium knew that meant the game was over, given how poorly the Giants’ defense was playing.

Washington rookie QB Jayden Daniels hit wide receiver Noah Brown for a 34-yard completion, and the Commanders’ Seibert hit his seventh field goal of the afternoon for a walk-off Giants defeat.

Daboll’s Giants next will travel to Cleveland in Week 3 to face the Browns knowing their season is over.

Devin Singletary fumbled the ball away on the first drive of the second half, when Washington’s Benjamin St-Juste punched it out and Jeremy Chinn recovered. And Jones went three-and-out with three incompletions on the Giants’ next drive.

The Commanders converted those missed opportunities into Seibert’s fourth and fifth field goals of the afternoon and a 15-12 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

Daniels used tight end Zach Ertz as a security blanket in the passing game, but Washington did most of its damage on the ground. The Commanders had 29 carries for 191 rushing yards before the end of the third quarter, an average of 6.5 yards per carry.

Brian Robinson Jr. rumbled for a 40-yard gain in the third quarter and would have scored and didn’t score only because safety Jason Pinnock chased him down and saved the touchdown.

Seibert put Washington back ahead, 15-12, with 2:47 to play in the third.

Jones and the Giants offense responded with a 13-play, 70-yard drive capped by a 7-yard touchdown pass to Wan’Dale Robinson with 11:32 remaining in the fourth quarter for an 18-15 lead.

The drive included an 18-yard Singletary run and three Nabers catches for 25 yards, including a 4-yard reception on fourth-and-3 to keep the offense on the field.

Daboll elected to go for two instead of trying an extra point with Gillan, though, and it was unsuccessful, dropping them to 0 for 2 on the day in that spot.

Washington looked like it was going in for its first touchdown of the game on the next drive after a 27-yard Austin Ekeler screen pass to the Giants’ six-yard line. But the Commanders committed their fifth red-zone false start of the day — an absurd statistic for Dan Quinn’s team — and settled for Seibert’s sixth field goal and an 18-18 tie with 7:12 to play.

The Giants led, 12-9, at halftime despite Washington controlling the ball for 21:39 compared to the Giants’ 8:21 time of possession.

New York led because the Commanders only managed three Seibert field goals, while Jones and the Giants’ offense scored two touchdowns on only three possessions all half.

Singletary’s 7-yard run gave the Giants a 6-3 lead with 1:06 to play in the first quarter. That marked the Giants’ first opening-drive touchdown in 27 games, snapping the NFL’s longest drought.

And Jones hit Nabers for a 4-yard touchdown pass to cap a 10-play, 69-yard two-minute drive at the end of the half to go into the locker room with the lead.

The Giants were fortunate to be ahead given how the game began.

Ekeler returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back due to a Nick Bellore hold on Giants linebacker Ty Summers.

The Giants’ kicker Gano, who was added to the injury report on Saturday with a groin injury, hurt his hamstring chasing Ekeler and punched the bench when he got to the sideline. He was unable to return to the game.

That meant punter Jamie Gillan had to kick in Gano’s place. And although Gillan made a 40-yard field goal last season in New Orleans, his extra point try on Singletary’s early touchdown hooked wide right.

Daboll then went for two points after Nabers’ touchdown unsuccessfully late in the first half.

The Giants’ offense might have done more damage in the first half if they’d had the ball more, but Robinson Jr.’s 63 yards rushing paced a Washington ground attack that bullied the Giants for 114 first-half rushing yards on 5.4 per carry.

Daniels also started the game 10-of-10 passing for 71 yards, one week after the Vikings’ Sam Darnold started 12-of-12 against the Giants for 145 yards and a TD.

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