Redskins Top Giants, 17-16

The New York Giants ran for 117 yards, they were plus-one in the turnover battle, they won the time of possession battle 33:13 to 26:47, and they still found a way to lose a huge division game to the Washington Redskins, 17-6.
What happened?

We can start with the penalties – nine of them to be exact for 73 yards. That’s a penalty explosion for a team that up until this week, had averaged a little over four penalties per game this season.

The biggest culprits? There was quarterback Eli Manning being flagged for an intentional grounding infraction and a delay of game; offensive lineman Jim Cordle was nailed twice for holding on kickoff returns, both of which wiped out significant kickoff returns by David Wilson; and right tackle Sean Locklear, who appeared to have suffered a season-ending knee injury, contributed to the party with a false start and a hold.

Then there were the missed opportunities such as kicker Lawrence Tynes’ 43-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide left or the Giants’ inability continued struggle to score in the red zone.

The defense wasn’t blameless in this one either as in the second half, quarterback Robert Griffin III and running back Alfred Morris, both rookies, schooled veterans Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora, whose contain game was about as poor as it’s been all season.

And then there was had the somewhat conservative strategy by the Giants offensive brain trust to keep the Redskins offense off the field by running the ball at curious times instead of trying to take advantage of a porous and banged up Redskins defense.

In the end, the Giants ended up getting back what they tried to do to the Redskins in that RGIII and his crew held the ball for 10:42 in the fourth quarter, denying Manning and the Giants any hope of trying to produce their fourth quarter magic that they managed the first time these two teams met.

With the loss, the Giants have a one-game lead in the NFC East. However, they have lost any tiebreaker in the division should they and the Redskins end up in a tie for the division title.

The loss also snaps a streak of 26 games in which the Giants, who led 13-10 at the half, went on to win the game.