EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Marcus Mariota emerged from the Washington Commanders’ first victory celebration since Oct. 5 with a sense of relief. Beating the New York Giants 29-21 on Sunday ended their season-derailing skid at eight games.
“There’s nothing like a winning locker room,” Mariota said. “It’s hard to go two months without winning a football game.”
Now their opponent is stuck with that feeling. The Giants (2-12), who lost their eighth in a row, have not won since Oct. 9.
The only NFL game this week with no playoff implications had a far bigger bearing on draft positioning. The Giants in defeat moved a step closer to the top pick, a last-place finish in the NFC East and potentially front-office changes, with a coaching search already coming.
“I’ve never gone this long without a win in my career,” said Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, who was 20 of 36 for 246 yards with touchdown passes to Tyrone Tracy and Wan’Dale Robinson and a costly interception. “I know that this isn’t going to be the case for the future, and things are going to eventually turn around. I definitely have that in my mind. Obviously, as a team we want to get that switched immediately.”
Players in Washington thought last year was evidence of turning that franchise around, with an improbable run to the conference championship game in quarterback Jayden Daniels’ AP Offensive Rookie of the Year season setting expectations high. Instead, Daniels has missed significant time, including sitting out Sunday after aggravating an elbow injury, and the Commanders (4-10) also are playing out the string.
They responded from getting shut out 31-0 at Minnesota last Sunday by Jacory Croskey-Merritt running for a TD and fellow rookie Jaylin Lane returning a punt 63 yards to the end zone.
“The guys, it comes down to effort on that,” said Lane, who got the game ball from coach Dan Quinn and carried it around afterward. “It’s the longest play in football, punt returns, so just shoutout to the guys.”
Mariota connected with top receiver Terry McLaurin on a 51-yard catch-and-run touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and that went a long way toward putting smiles on many faces in the visiting locker room.
“It feels amazing to win a football game,” McLaurin said. “It’s been a long season, but you come out here and you get a win and you really appreciate that feeling.”
Mariota completed only 10 passes on 19 attempts for 211 yards, with a fumble, and Croskey-Merritt had 96 on the ground.
That, along with a defensive effort that included Von Miller sacking Dart to reach 136 1/2 in his career and pass Jared Allen for 12th on the all-time list, turned out to be enough.
“It’s never easy at this point in time with what’s going on in our season, but those guys continue to fight, continue to battle,” Mariota said. “Games like this are never easy. The weather was tough, windy, cold, snowy: So many reasons, so many things for guys to not show up and play, and our guys found a way.”
Dart was escorted off the field by trainers to the sideline and went into the blue medical tent for a concussion evaluation after taking a big hit on a designed run in the fourth. He missed only two plays while getting cleared but did not understand why he was pulled.
“I was definitely surprised,” Dart said. “I didn’t feel like it was that big of a hit at all.”
This was Dart’s second game back after missing the previous two from getting concussed Nov. 9 at Chicago.
Injuries
Commanders: WR Noah Brown was initially listed as questionable to return because of a back injury, which was changed to ribs when he was ruled out at halftime. … LT Laremy Tunsil returned after leaving with a back injury, then exited again with an oblique ailment. … DT Eddie Goldman was evaluated for a concussion.
Giants: Edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux missed a fourth consecutive game because of a shoulder injury.
Up next
Commanders: Host the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday.
Giants: Visit the Las Vegas Raiders next Sunday.
