“When they last met” is an ongoing series during the NFL season, recalling the preceding game between Washington and the next opponent on the Commanders’ schedule.
NY Giants 20, Washington 12 – Week 15, December 18, 2022
Both teams entered the playoff birth showdown with a 7-5-1 record, but it was the Giants who came away with a 20-12 win at FedEx Field.
The game was a rematch of when the two teams had faced off two weeks prior in New York, fighting to a 20-20 overtime tie.
Perhaps the most pivotal play of the game occurred early in the second quarter when Washington led 3-0 and had the ball 2nd & 18 on their own 10-yard line.
Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux beat Commanders left tackle Charles Leno on an outside rush, hit quarterback Taylor Heinicke, caused a fumble, recovered the fumble and stepped into the end zone for a 1-yard defensive touchdown for a 7-3 lead which they never relinquished.
The Giants extended their lead to 14-3 at the half as Saquon Barkley scored from three yards out, with 1:43 remaining in the first half.
The Commanders, on their first second-half possession, scored when Heinicke found Jahan Dotson from 19 yards, but Joey Slye missed the point-after-touchdown, and it was 14-9.
Graham Gano’s 50-yard field goal extended the Commanders deficit to 17-9. Joey Slye responded with a 51-yard field goal, cutting the margin back to 17-12.
But the Commanders gave up another drive, and Gano again connected from 50 yards for a 20-12 lead with only 1:55 remaining.
On 1st & 10 from their own 43, Taylor Heinicke found Curtis Samuel wide open down the right sideline for 27 yards to the Giants’ 30. However, his pass was errant, forcing Samuel out of bounds. Samuel was open enough; it would have been a touchdown had Heinicke delivered the ball more inside.
Brian Robinson scored from one yard, but the score was eliminated when Terry McLaurin was declared to have lined up in an illegal formation. McLaurin, after the game, said he asked the official if he was in the right alignment and stated the official then threw the flag anyway.
On 4th & goal from the 6, Heinicke passed to Curtis Samuel, who, the video displayed, was grabbed from behind prior to the ball’s arrival, but no official stepped forward to make a pass interference call.
Washington was home, a 4.5-point favorite and played from behind all night, not getting it done. They would proceed to lose their next two games as well to San Francisco and Cleveland and were eliminated from the playoff race.
