Washington went down to the Giants

In an intense back and forth game between the Washington Football Team and the New York Giants, Washington came up just short of victory losing to New York 19-20. Washington is now tied with New York for last place in the NFC East with a record of 1-5. Washington fans got to witness Kyle Allen play a full game in a Washington jersey. As some suspected that Alex Smith would start Sunday’s game, Coach Ron Rivera decided to play it safe with the younger Allen.  The outcome might not have been exactly what fans wanted, but I like what I saw for the most part, disregarding those two turnovers Allen gave up to the New York defense. Ultimately these two turnovers are what sealed the game. A ball club that continuously gives up possessions and doesn’t respond the next drive with points, can’t expect to win the game.

Allen’s play was mixed but showed enough to highlight why Rivera started the young QB. He threw a first quarter interception that led to a Giants field goal. However, he bounced back in the second quarter. Allen was able to muster up a drive to get his team in field goal position for the second time and Hopkins was able to capitalize, putting 3 on the board. Later, with the help of a Giants penalty and some great coaching decisions, Allen was once again put in a position to score following a successful 4th down conversion to put him and his offense at the 5-yard line right before halftime.

This was a key moment for Allen as he lofted up a beautiful pass for his tight end Logan Thomas who just was an absolute mismatch against a much shorter defensive back and was able to haul in the grab for a touchdown to bring the Washington Football Team to within 3 points with the score standing at 10-13. Later in the 4th quarter, tied 13-13,  Allen was driving down the field with momentum and a touchdown on the horizon. The Giants made the biggest stop of the game as the defensive front made a sack causing Allen to fumble, with Tae Crowder picking the ball up and running the ball in for a touchdown.

Nevertheless, Washington’s second-half defense looked stout and held the Giants offense to no points in the half. They forced a turnover with immense pressure from second overall pick Chase Young and Kendall Fuller grabbed an interception in the endzone. This allowed Washington to come back with a field goal response tying the game 13-13. As I stated previously, the defense did their job allowing no further points, which means if not for the offensive turnovers that led to points, a victory for Washington would have been a sure thing.

A resilient effort was made on the last drive as Coach Ron responded to the turnover with a touchdown on the very last drive which was impressive. Rivera then decided to throw caution to the wind and risk it all as he went for a 2-point conversion that failed miserably. If this play for the extra points was executed more efficiently Washington would currently be 2-4. Allen was unable to scramble past the pylon for a touchdown and hesitated in the midst of his sprint and took a game-deciding sack costing Washington the game. On this game-deciding play, Rivera believed that Allen had enough space to run in the ball for the final conversion. I am in agreement as there was no genuine attempt of winning the game viewing the execution of this hesitant play.

Coach Ron has already agreed that he liked what he saw minus the two turnovers, and hesitation as I did as well. He will select Allen to start again next week against the Cincinnati Bengals over Alex Smith. Hopefully, the young quarterback can bounce back as his time is ticking the same as Dwayne Haskins was in his same shoes, or cleats should I say.