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Good morning, New York Giants fans! Here are the stories you need to know for the NFC East- leading New York Football Giants.
> For the Giants, though, it’s hard not to err more on the side of optimism. They are not Super Bowl contenders. They are not ready to run away with the wide-open NFC East. They have their flaws.
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> But it’s very clear, through the first five weeks, they aren’t the team they’ve been the past few years. That’s truly all that matters. Compare these Giants to the ones run by Brian Daboll … or Joe Judge … or Pat Shurmur … or Ben McAdoo and there are so many ways this game never reaches its tied conclusion. The Giants were not a team built to handle adversity -- it suffocated them in painstaking fashion like a plague. Time and time and time again. But these Giants are different. A month-plus of football is enough a sample size to state that.
> Given the circumstances, the New York Giants will take their 27-27 overtime tie with the Washington Commanders from a wet and wacky Sunday afternoon in Maryland with appreciation for the big picture impact on the season.
> **The good news? It’s over. What’s one other reason to be optimistic coming out of the Week 5 fiasco? Carroll:** That the Giants even got to the point that this game could become a fiasco is impressive. As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, this is a team that will not quit and has pulled off late-game defensive stands to seal victories. Sunday, it was Winston who turned up the heat and mounted a 14-point comeback to tie the game. Winston’s play can be erratic, but he put on a show and became the only Giant since 1950 to amass 300-plus passing yards, three-plus passing touchdowns and 25-plus rushing yards in the same game.
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> The other big plus coming out of Sunday’s game was the play of New York’s top pass catchers: tight end Isaiah Likely (11 catches, 94 yards, two touchdowns) and receiver Malik Nabers (11 catches, 121 yards, one TD). The two are huge focal points of the offense, so to see them get more involved, especially in big moments, will be crucial for this offense going forward.
> It is perfectly understandable to not know how to feel if you were pulling for the Giants coming out of the bizarre 27-27 tie with the Commanders. There is no doubt the Giants, after staging a strong, resilient comeback from down 14 points in the fourth quarter, wasted an opportunity to gain their first road victory of the season.
> Everyone understands that Jameis Winston can sling the ball all over the yard. Everyone also understands he could implode at any moment and make a gut-wrenching mistake. Instead of eating a second-quarter sack, Winston tried to make something happen against the Washington Commanders and fumbled the ball. From that point forward, he led the New York Giants on seven drives that should have ended in points (not including a kneel-down at end of regulation). However, two missed field goals and a Cam Skattebo fumble prevented that from happening.
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> “It’s just a whole bunch of stuff that people want to talk about as bad, but like, bro, the good outweighs the bad,” said running back Tyrone Tracy Jr..“It overwhelms the bad. So, you have to continue just to keep talking Jameis up, man. Keep talking Jameis up because like, people want to bench him, people want to talk bad about him. But like, at the end of the day, man, that boy is a hooper. He goes out there and plays ball.” **Grade: B**
> The fumble fit a broader pattern the coaching staff has emphasized. Harbaugh acknowledged that ball security has not yet reached an unacceptable threshold, but the group must continue pursuing improvement rather than accepting current results.
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> “Gotta keep chasing it. I mean, that’s the thing. You just can’t throw your hands up and say, ‘Well, we’re just not good at it.’ We have to believe in our players,” Harbaugh said. “We understand that at some point in time, it becomes unacceptable, but we’re not there yet. We’ve got guys that want to do the right thing, and we have to, as a team, as an offense, we have to get to the point where we protect the football.”
> **Trend to watch:** After posting less than 100 rushing yards against the Cardinals last week, Cam Skattebo, Najee Harris and Tyrone Tracy Jr. combined for 21 yards on 11 carries in the first half vs. Washington. The RBs also combined for 1.9 yards per catch in first half. Skattebo then had a crucial fumble with less than two minutes remaining in overtime when the Giants were in field-goal range.
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