Jones, Barkley, Thibodeaux Deliver in Giants' 20-12 Win Over Washington

The Giants took a major step toward a 2022 postseason berth.

The New York Giants challenged their players to step up in what was by far the biggest game of the 2022 regular season, and by golly, they delivered.

Quarterback Daniel Jones finished 21 of 32 for 160 yards—meager numbers—but he might have had better stats had several balls not bounced off his receivers’ hands.

Numbers aside, Jones, who won his first primetime game in nine tries, continued to solidify his case for a new contract with numerous smart decisions that helped move the ball up and down the field for his team when it mattered most while also contributing 35 rushing yards on ten carries as the Giants ran for 128 total yards on 30 carries.

Jones engineered an 18-play drive—the longest of the Giants season—in the second quarter that chewed up 8:35 off the clock before halftime, at one point completing seven passes in a row on the drive.

One of the beauties thrown by Jones included a strike to receiver Richie James, the team’s receiving yardage leader (42), on a 3rd-and-9, a play on which Jones was under heavy pressure.

His biggest completion might have come on 4th-and-9 from the Commanders’ 35-yard line when he connected with James over the middle for 11 yards. Then, three plays later, running back Saquon Barkley, who also had himself quite the game (87 yards on 18 carries, 4.8 average).

Barkley finished off the drive thanks to offensive coordinator Mike Kafka reaching back into the old bag of tricks and pulling out the Wild Cat, the ball directly snapped to Barkley, who took it three yards for the second touchdown of the game.

Not to be outdone, the defense had its share of big-moment performances. Rookie outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux showed the national stage why he was the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft by leading the Giants with 12 tackles (nine solos), three tackles for a loss, a big-time strip-sack of Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke, and the scoop and score for the Giants’ first points of the game.

Better yet, Washington crossed into Giants’ territory seven times but only scored on three of those possessions. The Giants defense, which had its problems against the run and receiver Terry McLaurin, came up big when it mattered most, that coming on the final two drives of the game when Dexter Lawrence and Azeez Ojulari sacked Heinicke. 

The sack knocked the ball from Heinicke’s grasp, and Leonard Williams fell on it to give the offense the ball at the Giant’s 14-yard line. Nine plays later, kicker Graham Gano made it 20-12 on a 50-yard field goal.

The Giants' defense came up big again on the Commanders’ final drive of the game. Washington, having again gotten inside the Giants’ 10-yard line, threatened to potentially tie the game and send it into overtime.

However, after a Washington penalty nullified what was initially called a touchdown and Washington was called for illegal formation, on 4th-and-goal from the Giants’ 6-yard line, Heinicke’s pass intended for Curtis Samuel was broken up by cornerback Darnay Holmes as Lawrence managed to get a hit on the quarterback.

With the win, the Giants improve to 8-5-1 and own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Commanders (7-6-1). The Giants hold the sixth seed in the 7-member NFC playoff field and will all but certainly punch their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2016 if they can defeat the Minnesota Vikings next weekend on Christmas Eve. 

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