Crowder’s late touchdown lifts Giants to first win
Linebacker Tae Crowder returned a fumble 43 yards for a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and the New York Giants held on for a 20-19 win over the Washington Football Team on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J.
Cam Sims scored a touchdown with 36 seconds left to pull Washington within one point, and head coach Ron Rivera decided to go for a two-point conversion rather than settling for an extra point to even the score. The gamble failed as quarterback Kyle Allen threw an incomplete pass on the two-point attempt.
The sequence preserved the game-winning score for Crowder, a rookie from Georgia who received the “Mr. Irrelevant” designation as the 255th and final pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. He made headlines for a much more positive reason as he quickly reacted to Allen’s fumble in the pocket to score with 3:29 remaining.
New York (1-5) notched its first win under head coach Joe Judge. Washington (1-5) dropped its fifth game in a row.
Allen completed 31 of 42 passes for 280 yards, two touchdowns and one interception to go along with his fumble.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones completed 12 of 19 passes for 112 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
New York jumped to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
After Graham Gano made a 33-yard field goal to begin the scoring, the Giants pushed their lead to double digits on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Darius Slayton with 1:36 left in the opening quarter. Washington blitzed but Jones quickly lobbed a throw toward the left corner of the end zone for Slayton’s third score of the season.
Washington cut the deficit to 10-3 on a 35-yard field goal by Dustin Hopkins early in the second quarter. The Giants responded several minutes later with a 20-yard field goal by Gano to pull back ahead by 10.
With 17 seconds to go before halftime, Washington notched its first touchdown to pull within 13-10. Tight end Logan Thomas sprinted toward the back left corner of the end zone, made the 5-yard catch and dragged his toes to stay inbounds.
Washington evened the score at 13-13 on Hopkins’ 28-yard field goal with 9:07 to go in the third quarter.
That remained the score until Crowder’s tiebreaking touchdown and Sims’ late response on a 22-yard catch.
Giants wide receiver C.J. Board was carted off the field in the third quarter after a scary play in which he landed on his head and neck after attempting to make a catch.
–Field Level Media
