The 5-10 Giants are somehow still breathing in the NFC East with a week to go.
Sunday’s late NFC East games broke the right way for the Giants to keep their hopes for the division’s title alive. Sales-sensitive Dwayne Haskins was on the bench when Washington lost an opportunity to conquer the East with an ugly 20-13 home loss against Carolina.
The Giants also needed the Cowboys to defeat the Eagles, and Dallas overcame an early 14-3 hole to record a 37-17 victory at AT&T Stadium.
The Giants need to beat Dallas (6-9) in week 17 and have Philadelphia (4-10-1) beat Washington (6-9) next Sunday night to create a three-player draw at 6-10. In that scenario, the Giants would win the tiebreaker based on a 4-2 division record. Washington would still win the first division title with a win over the eliminated Eagles since 2015.
Washington lost its first chance to qualify at FedEx Field on Sunday against another eliminated opponent, as Teddy Bridgewater and the Panthers (5-10) took a 20-0 lead in the first half and never let it go.
“What was frustrating was that we just weren’t playing championship-level football,” said Washington coach Ron Rivera. ‘We still determine our fate. That is the truth.
“We have one more game to play, and it is a very important game.”
Haskins, who was fined $ 40,000 last week for maskless parties in violation of COVID-19 protocols, was a mess in his second straight start in place of Alex Smith (calf).
Washington’s first round in 2019 was intercepted twice, fumbled once and finished 14-for-28 for 154 yards before finishing 20-6 in favor of fourth-stringer Taylor Heinicke, trailing Washington in the fourth quarter .
‘We just didn’t click. Very disappointing, ”said Haskins, calling the past week“ the hardest ”of his life. “I wish I could go back and change something, but it’s over now.”
Heinicke, an Old Dominion product that appeared in six games (one start) for Carolina in 2018, pulled Washington within 20-13 with a 29-yard pass to JD McKissic with 1:50 to go, but the onside kick was taken in by the Panthers.
In the meantime, the loser of the Philadelphia / Dallas game faced elimination, which turned out to be the Eagles (4-10-1).
The Eagles took a quick 14-3 lead, but Andy Dalton (377 passing yards) connected twice with Michael Gallup and once with rookie CeeDee Lamb for touchdowns for a 27-13 turnaround advantage in the third quarter.
Hurts, who finished with 342 passing yards and 69 on the ground, was intercepted at the Dallas goal line by Anthony Brown with 6:42 left – his first of two tips in the fourth quarter. He also lost a fumble into Cowboys’ territory at 3:54.
Lamb again scored on a 19-yard run with 1:53 left to seal Dallas’ third straight win and set up Sunday’s showdown against the Giants at MetLife Stadium.
“If you gave up five or six weeks ago, we wouldn’t even want you on our side,” said Ezekiel Elliott. “We are competitors. The whole team is. We weren’t sure. I have to win next week and need some help from the guys we just played. “