Cam Skattebo didn’t just forget to push the tush. 

Giants head coach John Harbaugh explained Friday that the failed third-and-1 quarterback sneak by Jameis Winston late in the fourth quarter was not a traditional Tush Push and thus it was not detrimental that it took Skattebo nearly two seconds to fire out of his pre-snap stance. 

“That was a different kind of play, that was a normal quarterback sneak,” Harbaugh said. “It had a certain check involved in it that is part of the play so he wasn’t supposed to be up there pushing.” 

Perhaps the clearest evidence that it is not a cover-up is that fullback Patrick Ricard was lined up as a tight end and not pushing Winston, either. 

The failed third-down conversion led to the now-infamous “Who let the dogs out?” cadence on fourth-and-1 at the 11-yard line. 

“It’s not about what you say, exactly,” Harbaugh said. “While it was, I think, probably fun on his part, the way the cadence sounds was an attempt to draw him offsides. That they would hear something different. They are going to jump based on the fact that they are too antsy and as soon as they hear the word and anticipate the snap, they are going to jump. They are not trying to define the word you said.” 

Harbaugh said that in hindsight he wouldn’t have wasted time with the trickery and taking a delay of game penalty that backed up punter Jordan Stout. 

“If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t even try to do it,” Harbaugh said. “It didn’t end up hurting us in the end. They are probably not going to jump there. [The Commanders] are a team that’s jumped offside a bunch in those situations. They probably have been emphasizing it to a high degree, and they weren’t budging.” 

Or maybe … 

“You say, ‘Who let the dogs out?’ and then you snap the ball,” Harbaugh said. “Maybe that would’ve been a better strategy.” 

Snap the ball at the 11-yard line while protecting a four-point lead? That’s Lions head coach Dan Campbell-levels of gutsy. 

“I’m kind of kicking myself,” Harbaugh said. “Maybe we should’ve gone for that one. You can kind of get as aggressive as you want. We’re not afraid. We’ve done that before [in Baltimore]. History would tell you that.”

All six of kicker Dominic Zvada’s missed field goals this season have come from the right hash. 

“There is a technique issue there with his plant foot that we’re looking at,” Harbaugh said. “He needs to clean that up from a consistency standpoint. There is an issue on the right hash, no question.” 

The Giants punted three times across midfield: Fourth-and-12 at the 42-yard line, fourth-and-3 at the 46 and fourth-and-5 at the 41. 

“When we were talking about them during the game, we just felt like they were out of range to go for it,” Harbaugh said. “A lot of it was the analytics. But even feeling comfortable about doing it. We may be more aggressive in the future than we were.”