Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m just glad that ugly Commanders-Giants game didn’t go to overtime. 

In today’s SI:AM: 
🗽 Giants fail to capitalize
🧔‍♂️ Harden to blame for Cavs’ issues
👹 Why Poch is right for Man U

Missed opportunities for the Giants

The Giants had every chance to seize control of the NFC East last night, and they blew it. 

New York could have moved to 6–2–1 with a home win over the Commanders, creating some separation with the second-place Cowboys (4–5) and dealing a crushing blow to Washington’s division hopes. 

Instead, the Giants blew a fourth-quarter lead and lost, 24–21. Their record is 5–3–1, while Washington improved to 3–5–1. 

Gilberto Manzano wrote about how the loss exposed the Giants’ lack of talent, which the team had tried (and failed) to address at the trade deadline. That’s true, but poor coaching was also a factor. John Harbaugh has done an admirable job quickly turning the franchise around, but he made a few aggravating decisions last night. 

The first came on the opening drive of the game. After J.J. McCarthy failed to connect with Isaiah Likely on a third-and-7 from the Washington 37-yard line, Harbaugh sent out the punt unit. You never see an NFL coach punt from that deep in his opponent’s territory these days. It was too far to attempt a field goal (as evidenced by rookie kicker Dominic Zvada’s miss from 33 yards on the team’s next possession), but the Giants still didn’t approach the situation correctly. If Harbaugh knew he couldn’t rely on Zvada from that distance, the Giants should have run the ball on third down to set up a more manageable fourth down and gone for it. 

Did Harbaugh learn his lesson? Of course not. Early in the fourth quarter, with New York trailing 17–14, the team faced a similar situation: third-and-3 from the Washington 46. McCarthy’s pass to Theo Johnson fell incomplete. Harbaugh sent out the punt unit. A fourth-and-3 is tough to pick up, but again, this is a situation where you can hand the ball off to bowling ball running back Cam Skattebo on third down. Maybe he picks up the first down, maybe you have to run it again on fourth down. But punting on fourth-and-short from your opponent’s side of the field while trailing in the fourth quarter is a coward’s move. 

The Giants were fortunate to get a defensive stop on the ensuing Washington possession. They then took the lead on a 66-yard catch and run by Likely. 

But they couldn’t hold onto the lead. Giants safety Jevon Holland picked off Jayden Daniels on the Commanders’ next possession. Skattebo had solid gains on first and second down as the Giants attempted to run out the clock, but Jameis Winston was stonewalled on a quarterback sneak on third down. (The Giants use the bigger Winston for sneak plays instead of McCarthy.) It was at that point that Harbaugh suddenly looked as though he magically transformed over the course of the previous 20 minutes from the NFL’s most risk-averse coach to its most daring. He sent the offense back on the field for a fourth-and-1 from the Giants’ own 11-yard line. 

The Giants didn’t actually snap the ball, of course. They were trying to get the Commanders to jump offsides and gift them a first down. Or at least that was the idea. There was no way the Commanders were going to fall for Winston’s comical snap count. 

“Get ready! Get set!” Winston yelled. “Hut one! Hut two!”

Alright, that’s an antiquated style of snap count, but it’s at least something a quarterback could be reasonably expected to say at the line of scrimmage. But what Winston did next was farcical. After sending fullback Patrick Ricard in motion, Winston said, “Who let the dogs out? Who, who, who, who, who!”

That’s absurd. Why would the defense ever believe the snap was coming after that? I think it’s more likely that this was a classic instance of Winston being a goofball, rather than an instruction from Harbaugh. But part of Harbaugh’s job is to make sure his players are executing the play to the best of their ability—not doing comedy bits. Winston told reporters that the team did practice the “Who let the dogs out?” cadence, and that he was (obviously) the one who came up with it. 

“That’s part of the cadence,” Harbaugh told reporters. “Teams do jump in that situation sometimes, so that was the idea.”

The Giants’ failure to capitalize on the opportunities presented by their defense was the biggest reason they lost, though. They picked off Daniels twice in the fourth quarter but couldn’t run the ball effectively enough to drain the clock. That, coupled with a horrendous 12-yard punt by Jordan Stout just after the two-minute warning, allowed Washington to come back. McCarthy’s interception in the final minute sealed the game and kept the Commanders in the hunt in the division. 

The best of Sports Illustrated

The top five…

… things I saw last night: 
5. USF receiver Mudia Reuben’s diving touchdown catch. (The Bulls lost a wild one to Memphis, 52–41.)
4. Arda Güler’s stunning free-kick goal for Türkiye against Belgium.  
3. Isaiah Likely’s run after the catch on a great throw by J.J. McCarthy to give the Giants the lead in the fourth quarter. 
2. Stefon Diggs’s agility to split the defense on his game-winning touchdown catch. 
1. Trae Young’s deep three-pointer to force overtime. Young finished with 37 points and 14 assists as the Wizards lost to the Pistons in double overtime. (Rookie AJ Dybantsa had a nice bucket to tie the game and send it to the second overtime. Cade Cunningham finished with 52 points, 11 assists and no turnovers for Detroit.)

📺 What we’re watching today …

College football

Florida State at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
Illinois at. No. 4 UCLA, 9 p.m. ET, Fox
No. 14 Houston at Colorado, 10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN

NBA

Knicks at Pacers, 7 p.m. ET, Prime Video
Warriors at Spurs, 9:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video

Men’s college basketball

Georgia at North Carolina, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2
Ohio State at No. 4 UConn, 7:30 p.m. ET, TNT
No. 6 Virginia at Maryland, 8 p.m. ET, Peacock
No. 12 Arizona at Auburn, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2