Takeaways from the NY Giants rough 20-20 tie vs. the Commanders

As expected, the NY Giants and Washington Commanders treated the fans at MetLife Stadium to a close matchup, with the two NFC East teams landing several punches on one another. Four quarters wasn’t enough time to decide a winner, with overtime needed.

While at times it felt like the Commanders were going to hand the G-Men a heartbreaking loss, these two teams shook hands after the final whistle recoding a 20-20 tie. This is going to hurt, as Big Blue looked poised to record a win, but they let things go late. Here’s our four takeaways from the meeting in East Rutherford.

4. Welcome back Azeez Ojulari

The NY Giants were able to welcome back several key players for the Week 13 showdown, but perhaps none were bigger than pass-rusher Azeez Ojulari. Ojulari has missed the majority of the season due to injury, but goodness, he picked up right where he left off against the Commanders on Sunday.

Early on in the third quarter, Ojulari reminded everyone of how great he is, putting heavy pressure on Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke. On that particular play, Ojulari got into the backfield, forced a fumble on the Washington signal-caller, and then was able to jump on the ball as well in the same sequence.

It set up the G-Men at the Washington 20 yard line. Shortly after that turnover, the NY offense was able to take a 20-13 lead after Daniel Jones hit wideout Isaiah Hodgins for a short touchdown. That play came after Ojulari’s monster play. He’s going to be a beast for this defense the rest of the way.

3. WR Isaiah Hodgins keeps getting better

Who knew this addition off waivers would prove to be so great for the G-Men? When Hodgins made his way to East Rutherford, no one figured this youngster would play such a key role in the offense. Fast forward to present time and Hodgins feels like he’s getting better with each and every snap.

His stats aren’t going to jump off the page, as he finished the Week 13 matchup with five receptions for 44 yards, but his touchdown, the first of his career, is something that he’s going to remember for the rest of his life. As you’ll be able to see in the video below, Hodgins ran a perfect route and Danny Dimes hit him with a great toss.

With Kenny Golladay out due to illness – and him being a major bust for the Giants in 2022 – Hodgins has seen extensive playing time and he’s taking advantage of his opportunities. He had a TD called back against the Cowboys in Week 12, but there was zero chance his score against Washington was going to be taken away from him. Hodgins is an easy guy to root for.

2. Saquon Barkley is out of his funk, but it wasn’t enough

Barkley was in dire need of a strong game after back-to-back rough showings and he looked strong early on. Barkley entered Week 13 with 61 rushing yards to his name over the past two games. His performances vs. the Lions and Cowboys were the complete opposite of what we’ve grown used to seeing from No. 26. He posted 63 rushing yards vs. Washington.

Barkley, who also surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season in this game, was running with passion and he simply would not stop moving his legs on runs. You could tell he was playing with some extra swag in this one. Barkley knows his play hasn’t been good enough of late, which is why he wanted to play close to his best vs. Washington.

While the offense looked awful late in the second half, that’s not on Barkley. He continues to run behind a shaky offensive line, which has battled inconsistent play and injuries all year long. With five more games left in the season, the NY offense will need to keep feeding Barkley to put themselves in the best position to win. However, he’s going to need to average more than 3.5 yards per carry – that was his average on Sunday.

1. Giants really blew it late in the tie

This is another game that NY is going to want to have back. They had so many opportunites to win this one, but they let it slip away. In the fourth quarter, with time winding down, Washington faced 4th down in their own territory, but Heinicke was able to convert. He then hit Jahan Dotson for an unreal score with less than two minutes to go to even the score.

The Giants were looking for the win once they got the ball back, but a deep bomb for Darius Slayton hit the turf. Then on the next play, Jones went deep to Slayton again, but the pass fell incomplete. Mike Kafka was going for it all, which surprised plenty of people. Then in overtime, things didn’t go much better.

Late in the OT session, the Giants were actually driving a bit and it looked like they were going to be able to get into field goal range for Graham Gano. However, a 3rd-down play was filled with nothing but confusion, causing for Barkley and Richie James to run into each other. NY got too cute and they ended up punting the ball.

Luckily Washington didn’t score to win it, but this tie stings a bit for the Giants. Again, they had the chances to post a needed win – with Gano having a chance to walk it off with a 58-yarder, but he missed it.

NY entered the contest having lost three of their last four and a big divisional win would have felt great. However, this team has gone another Sunday without a victory and now things are going to get even tougher for them next week vs. the Eagles.

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