Giants blow opportunity to put Jets away in wild sequence to end regulation

After Kayvon Thibodeaux came up with a clutch fourth-down sack on Zach Wilson, the New York Giants had a prime opportunity to put the New York Jets down for good in their ugly Week 8 matchup this afternoon.

Up 10-7 and facing 4th and 1 on the 17, the G-Men just needed one yard...one measly yard with 28 seconds left to ice the game and get out of MetLife Stadium with the win. Surely a running back the caliber of Saquon Barkley could be relied upon to get that one yard, right? With the Jets out of timeouts, that one yard ends the game.

Instead, head coach Brian Daboll decided to turn to kicker Graham Gano and wellllll....he missed. Giving their cross-stadium rival new life, the aforementioned Wilson managed to get the Jets in field goal range in just two plays and set up Greg Zuerlein up for his own field goal attempt. Spoiler alert: he didn’t miss and the game went to overtime.

After the Giants offense stalled on their first drive in OT, Wilson once again managed to get his team back into field goal range. One Big Z field goal attempt later and the Jets were able to steal a 13-10 victory.

That 4th and 1 decision at the end of the fourth is going is going to haunt Daboll for a long time. You are already deep in your opponent’s territory, so even if you get stuffed, they still have to drive down the field in a short amount of time. And even if Gano makes the field goal, you only go up by six and there’s still technically a chance for the Jets to win the game. The kill shot opportunity to end the game was right there and they passed on it.

Things are now really bleak for the Giants. They’re in last place in the NFC at 2-6 and are now down both starting quarterback Daniel Jones and backup veteran Tyrod Taylor. This season could really start spiraling for Daboll and the G-Men.