In his first chance to step onto the field this season as the Giants starting quarterback, a “grateful” Jameis Winston was having a solid day and an opportunity to come up huge in a crucial moment in the fourth quarter.
Looking for Jalin Hyatt in the end zone, Winston threw the ball where he thought his receiver would be but the duo weren’t on the same page and the throw was picked off to seal the game.
“Timing and execution are so important in this game,” Winston said. “And when you don’t have the reps with some of your teammates, you’ve got to capitalize on those moments and continue to work even harder and find solutions because, when the game really matters, timing and execution is the most important thing.”
Despite some close calls earlier in the game, Winston, known for taking risks throughout his career, had taken care of the ball up until that point. He finished 19-for-29 for 201 yards and added three rush attempts for 10 yards and a touchdown as New York carried the ball nearly 40 times.
It was a solid performance from the 31-year-old, but the interception came at an awful time and is sure to leave a bad taste in Winston’s mouth.
“All of us collectively can do one small thing to continue to get better, to finish this game and I think that’s the important thing,” the quarterback said. “We’re right there at the end of it, we just have to finish the game, and we will. We’ll find a way to finish because it’s required to finish in this league.”
Prior to the interception, the Giants had the lead with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. That was until Jordan Love found Christian Watson for his second touchdown of the game to take the lead. A successful two-point conversion attempt made it 27-20.
It’s another loss for New York in a game they had a late lead, a troubling theme for this team this year. It’s also the first loss post Brian Daboll as interim head coach Mike Kafka was at the helm for the first time in his career. Regardless, Winston had his head coach’s back after the game.
“Kaf is very poised and he played the quarterback position and he saw great fight in our team,” Winston said. “We fought hard, we fought til the end. It was unfortunate that we finished the way that we did, that’s why I really wanted to win this game and I’m just gonna keep getting better but Kaf is a great coach, he brought great energy and it’s tough that we didn’t pull it out.”
The Giants, losers of five straight, now sit at 2-9 on the season — ahead of only the Tennessee Titans (1-9) for the worst record in the league.
With the playoffs no longer in the picture, the focus for New York for the rest of the year now shifts to getting rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart (concussion) healthy and reps as he looks to be the team’s long-term answer at quarterback. Kafka was asked about the rookie’s status for next week against the Detroit Lions.
“I don’t want to get too far ahead on that,” he said. “I know he’s still in the protocol, so we’ll just kind of play it as the protocol goes.”
If Dart misses more time, it’ll be interesting to see if the Giants stick with Winston or go back to Russell Wilson who began the season as the starting quarterback but compiled an 0-3 record.
“I was so grateful,” Winston said. “I really wanted to win for these guys how we dominated the line of scrimmage. We ran the ball effectively, we did some good things in the passing game. Kaf did an incredible job calling this game. I really wanted to win this one for us.”
