The 5-10 Giants are somehow still breathing on NFC East with a week left.
The last NFC East games on Sunday paved the way for the Giants to keep their division title hopes alive. The upset Dwayne Haskins was eliminated as Washington squandered the chance to conquer the East with a terrible 20-13 home loss to Carolina.
The Giants also needed the Cowboys to defeat the Eagles, and Dallas overcame a 14-3 hole at the start to secure a 37-17 win at AT&T Stadium.
The Giants are expected to defeat Dallas (6-9) in Week 17 and have Philadelphia (4-10-1) beat Washington (6-9) next Sunday night to create a 3-10 draw in 6-10 . In this scenario, the Giants would win the tiebreaker based on a 4-2 division record. Washington would still win its first division title since 2015, with a victory over the eliminated Eagles.
Washington wasted its first chance to close Sunday at FedEx Field against another eliminated opponent, when Teddy Bridgewater and the Panthers (5-10) took a 20-0 lead in the first half and did not abandon it.
“What is frustrating is that we just don’t play professional football,” said Washington coach Ron Rivera. “We still control our destiny. That is the truth of the matter.
“We have one more game to play and it is a very important game.”
Haskins, who was fined $ 40,000 last week for partying without a mask in violation of the COVID-19 protocols, was a mess in his second consecutive match in place of Alex Smith (calf).
Washington’s choice in the first round of 2019 was intercepted twice, hindered once and finished 14 from 28 to 154 yards before being replaced in favor of fourth striker Taylor Heinicke with Washington losing 20-6 in the fourth period.
“We just weren’t clicking. Very disappointing, ”said Haskins, calling last week“ the most difficult ”of his life. “I wish I could go back and change something, but now it’s over.”
Heinicke, an Old Dominion product that appeared in six games (one match) for Carolina in 2018, drew with Washington in 20-13 with a 29-yard pass to JD McKissic with 1:50 left, but the side kick was recovered by Panthers.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia / Dallas game loser faced elimination, and ended up being the Eagles (4-10-1).
The Eagles managed a quick 14-3 lead, but Andy Dalton (377 passing yards) hit twice with Michael Gallup and once with newcomer 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 on the Dallas goal line by Anthony Brown with 6:42 remaining – his first of two choices in the fourth period. He also lost a fumble in the Cowboys’ territory with 3:54 to the end.
Lamb scored again in a 19-yard run with 1:53 to seal Dallas’s third straight win and prepare for Sunday’s clash 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 were not out of it. I have to win next week and I need a little help from the guys we just played. “