Giants come up short in last-second loss to Commanders

Some other numbers: Jones reversed his opening day performance and threw two touchdown passes and no interceptions while completing 16 of 28 passes for 178 yards. Devin Singletary rushed for 95 yards and scored his first Giants touchdown. Linebacker Micah McFadden and rookie cornerback Andru Phillips each had 12 total tackles, seven solo stops, and 1.0 sack.

And then there was Marvelous Malik Nabers, who demonstrated why the Giants were thrilled to secure him with the sixth selection in the NFL Draft. Jones targeted him on 18 throws. Nabers caught 10 of them for 127 yards and scored his first NFL touchdown. His 28 and 25-yard catches were the Giants’ two longest plays.

At 21 years and 49 days old, Nabers is the youngest player in NFL history with at least 10 receptions, 100 receiving yards and a touchdown catch in a game, surpassing Gern Nagler (21 years and 251 days old on Nov. 1, 1953, for the Chicago Cardinals).

Seibert became the first kicker in exactly 21 years to kick seven field goals against the Giants, from 27, 45, 26, 27, 29, 33 and 30 yards. No opponent had ever kicked four field goals shorter than 30 yards vs. the Giants. Seibert had five.

The strangeness commenced in the game’s opening seconds, when Austin Ekeler fielded Graham Gano’s kickoff and returned it 98 yards for a touchdown. But his runback was aided by Nick Bellore’s hold, which drew a penalty flag and moved the ball back to the Washington 27-yard line.

But the most significant event on the play was the hamstring injury suffered by Gano. In pain and hobbling, he was unable to return to the game. The Giants turned to punter Jamie Gillan, who kicked a 40-yard field goal last year in New Orleans. But after he hooked his first extra point try, Daboll attempted no more PATs and never tried a field goal. The Giants twice went for it on fourth down, succeeding once, and attempted a pair of 2-point conversions, neither of which succeeded.

“He (Gillan) missed the first one and we thought our chances were better going for it or going for two as the game went on,” Daboll said. “And how we were playing offensively, I felt good about our plays. We had one to Slay (Darius Slayton), we had an opportunity there, a two-point(er). We had another one with (Tyrone) Tracy that ended up covering the scramble. And then I went for it on fourth-and-three. It was fourth-and-three right at the end to Nabers. A little under-go and we just didn’t finish it off.”

Gano has no regrets about trying to catch Ekeler.

“I think it would have been tough to catch him, but that’s just the competitiveness,” Gano said.

“It’s our season, so we’re gonna try to get him down. I wish I’d seen there was a flag but you don’t see it. It’s just tough. You can’t blame it on anything … I was kicking the ball well.”

Gano was added to the injury report on Saturday with a sore groin, but both he and the Giants believed he would kick without an issue in the game. Because he had one, Daboll was asked several times after the game why the Giants didn’t have another kicker active. They have untested Jude McAtamney on the practice squad.

“Anybody could get injured,” Daboll said. “He was chasing the kickoff return, he pulled his hamstring. I’m not making excuses.

“We thought he (Gano) was good.”

Washington had eight offensive possessions. Seibert kicked seven field goals and the eighth possession was a one-play kneel-down to end the first half. Keeping the Commanders out of the end zone provided scant solace to the members of the Giants’ defense. Washington converted 7-of-14 third down opportunities and held the ball for 37:32. The Commanders rushed for 215 yards, including 133 by Brian Robinson, Jr.

“We did a great job in the red zone but at the end of the day, our job is to play defense,” linebacker Brian Burns said. “We have to get off the field on those third downs. … When we got somebody by the throat as a defense, we gotta snap their neck off.”

“I think we just didn’t do a great job with our fundamentals and techniques and just playing very disciplined football,” linebacker Bobby Okereke said.

Seibert’s first field goal capped a 16-play drive that took the first 9:36 of the game off the clock.

The Giants responded with a 53-yard march that featured Nabers’ 28-yard catch and Singletary’s 7-yard touchdown, followed by Gillan’s missed PAT try.

Washington jumped back ahead, 9-6, but the Giants again responded, this time with a terrific two-minute drill that concluded with Jones’ 4-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Nabers. The 2-point attempt throw to Slayton was incomplete, but the Giants led at halftime, 12-9.

Two more Seibert field goals gave the Commanders a 15-12 entering the fourth quarter. Jones connected with Wan’Dale Robinson for a 7-yard touchdown, but another 2-point try failed. Seibert’s 33-yarder tied the game at 18-18 with 7:12 remaining.

The Giants were in position to win the game when they traveled from their own 32-yard line to the Washington 22, where they faced a fourth-and-four with 2:09 left. Jones threw to the right side for Nabers, who was beyond the first-down marker. But he couldn’t control the ball and Washington took over.

“I know I can’t get that play back,” Nabers said. “I just gotta move on.”

Nabers said he “obviously” thinks he should make that play every time he has the opportunity.

“They’re high on me, they’re passing me the ball, they know I can make plays,” he said. “I’m sure, out of a thousand times, they’re gonna continue to call that play and go at me on fourth down again. Obviously, I want to make that play.

“I’m disappointed. No matter how good of a game you can play, that last play came down to me. I’m hurt to let those veterans down. They know what kind of player I am – Dex(ter Lawrence), Burns, Isaiah (Simmons), I know what kind of confidence they got in me. I don’t ever want to let my team down.”

Given new life, Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels – Nabers’ former teammate and close friend from LSU – drove the Commanders 65 yards in eight plays, the biggest a 34-yard pass to Noah Brown. Washington never faced a third down until Seibert kicked the deciding field goal as time expired.

It gets no easier for the Giants, who next week travel to Cleveland to face the Browns.

“Disappointing for sure,” Okereke said of the Giants’ 0-2 start. “You want to start off on a great foot. But keeping the perspective, this is week two, we’re going on to week three, we got a great opportunity with the Browns next week, and a great opportunity to right the ship in practice.”