The New York Giants lost a close one to the Washington Commanders on Thursday night, 24-21. An early missed field goal from Dominic Zvada and some questionable play-calling in the fourth quarter took a win away from the G-Men, leaving them with a 5-3-1 record and a murkier path to the playoffs.
Included in the late-game mishaps was one of the strangest, most Jameis Winston-like things that have possibly ever happened under center. Fans of Famous Jameis have seen a lot, as goes the Jameis Winston Experience, but this was different.
On fourth-and-inches, the backup quarterback came into the game to try to draw the Commanders offsides and essentially ice the game. At that point, they were up four with 3:27 left at their own 11-yard line.
Instead of using a traditional hard count, the former first overall pick took to karaoke, shouting, "Who let the dogs out? Who, who, who, who, who?" It didn't work, and Big Blue took a delay-of-game penalty before punting. While it was definitely one of the funnier things to hear during an NFC East rivalry game with a lot on the line, not everyone was amused by Winston's antics.
Jameis Winston's fourth-down karaoke has Donte Whitner calling for his job
Former two-time Pro Bowl defensive back Donte Whitner was definitely not a fan of Winston's set list, appearing on ESPN's Get Up on Friday morning with an over-the-top reaction that'd put Michael Scott to shame.
"I'd cut Jameis Winston this morning."Donte Whitner
And he meant it.
As Stanley from The Office once said, "And I think, 'There's no possible way that he can top that.' But what do you do? You find a way, damn it, to top it!"
Cut him? For singing the Baha Men? In this economy?
Look, I get being frustrated with how the Giants handled the entire fourth quarter offensively. They had two should-have-been game-sealing interceptions off Jayden Daniels while holding a lead, with multiple chances to put the Commies away. Instead, they managed 10 total yards (two five-yard three-and-outs) off those takeaways and gave Daniels enough time to steal a literal last-minute win.
But blaming Winston for that collapse feels a little ridiculous. He was obviously sent onto the field to draw Washington offsides, and the Commanders didn't bite. I would've liked John Harbaugh to go for it and play with some conviction, but that's a tough call late in the game, deep in your own territory. It felt like the Commanders knew a bluff was coming, so why not pull out all the stops?
If Whitner wants to go after Harbaugh or Matt Nagy for playing scared with the game on the line, have at it. There's so much to criticize there. Calling for Winston's job because his hard count sounded like a bad karaoke performance is quite the Inspector Gadget reach.
The Giants have a lot of problems to fix after Thursday night's loss made them look like anything but serious contenders. Jameis Winston's taste in early-2000s music is pretty far down that list.
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