Diggs’ Late TD Lifts Commanders 24-21 as Giants Waste Takeaways

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants intercepted Jayden Daniels twice with a lead to protect and still could not keep the ball away from him. Stefon Diggs made the extra opportunity count, turning a short completion into a 32-yard touchdown with 57 seconds remaining to lift Washington to a 24-21 victory Thursday night.

Rasul Douglas then intercepted J.J. McCarthy with 25 seconds left, ending New York’s final attempt to rescue a game its defense had twice positioned it to finish. Washington improved to 3-5-1. The Giants fell to 5-3-1, still leading the NFC East but carrying their first divisional loss of the season.

The decisive difference was not who moved the ball more. New York outgained Washington 399 yards to 340. It was what happened after the Giants took it away: consecutive three-and-outs that allowed a quarterback coming off two interceptions to return for the winning drive.

For Washington, the finish reversed the frustration of the teams’ earlier 27-27 overtime tie, when a late opportunity disappeared without a winning kick. This time, Daniels found his receiver before the clock could remove the choice. Diggs finished with six catches for 83 yards and the touchdown that separated the rivals.

The Giants had gone ahead 21-17 with 8:13 remaining when Isaiah Likely turned a McCarthy pass into a 66-yard touchdown. New York then produced the kind of defensive plays that should have made Washington’s recovery substantially harder. Neither produced the offensive possession needed to close the game.

As NBC Sports’ Charean Williams reported, Jevón Holland took the ball away from Chig Okonkwo near the goal line with 5:27 left. Ar’Darius Washington intercepted another pass intended for Okonkwo on fourth-and-two at the Washington 45 with 2:15 remaining. The second takeaway gave the Giants possession near midfield with the same four-point advantage.

Washington’s defense supplied the necessary interruption. In the Commanders’ official account, Sonny Styles took McCarthy down on third down before Jordan Stout sent a 12-yard punt out of bounds. Daniels got the ball back at his own 29, still needing a touchdown rather than a field goal.

A 33-yard pass-interference penalty against Deonte Banks, covering Treylon Burks, accelerated the 71-yard drive. NBC described the call as questionable, an assessment rather than an official admission of an error. The team accounts establish that the penalty helped Washington advance; they do not settle the judgment about the contact itself.

An Austin Ekeler completion kept the drive moving. On third-and-four, Daniels found Diggs, who caught the ball near the Giants’ 27, escaped a tackle around the 20 and ran the remaining distance to the end zone. Washington needed only three plays on the possession. The scoring throw was credited as a 32-yard touchdown.

New York had arrived on a short week after its defensive stand in Philadelphia helped secure a 19-11 victory Sunday. Thursday offered the opposite kind of disappointment: enough offense to create a fourth-quarter lead, enough takeaways to defend it, and not enough production when possession mattered most.

The Giants’ official recap recorded career highs for McCarthy in completions and passing yards. He finished 23-of-36 for 293 yards, a touchdown and an interception, adding 34 rushing yards. The interception came on the final desperate throw toward Malik Nabers after New York reached the Washington 48.

Likely caught nine passes for a career-high 127 yards. Cam Skattebo, returning after missing a game with a hamstring injury, carried 18 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns, while adding three receptions for 44 yards. Their production gave New York several ways to move the ball before the closing possessions stopped yielding first downs.

Daniels’ night carried its own contradictions. He completed 23 of 33 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns, with Antonio Williams and Ben Sinnott catching the other scoring throws. His first interception ended a run of 207 attempts without one, the second-longest such streak in Washington history. Minutes later, his third touchdown pass decided the game.

Washington also found answers to weaknesses that had followed it into the matchup. The Giants noted that the Commanders entered with the league’s lowest third-down conversion rate, 31.1 percent, but converted seven of 14 opportunities Thursday. New York, which had recorded seven sacks four days earlier, managed only one against Daniels.

Special teams left another measurable mark on the margin. Dominic Zvada missed a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter. Stout’s final punt was his shortest of the night, undoing field-position value from an evening that also included a 68-yarder. Neither play alone explains the loss, but both belong alongside the missed chances after the interceptions.

With 3:27 left, Jameis Winston had lined up on fourth-and-one from the Giants’ 11 and included “Who let the dogs out?” in his cadence. New York took a delay-of-game penalty and punted. The defense supplied another takeaway after that possession, giving the offense a second chance to end the suspense.

It did not. The next time Daniels got the ball back, Diggs turned New York’s four-point cushion into a three-point deficit. Douglas’ interception made sure Washington would not have to ask its offense for one more rescue.