When Sunday began the New York Giants were at the bottom of the NFC standings with a 2-9 record. With either a loss to the Detroit Lions, or a win by the Philadelphia Eagles later today against the Dallas Cowboys, New York will be eliminated from the playoffs.
But the Giants are not going down without a fight.
New York opened the scoring against the Lions on a trick play, with Jameis Winston finding Wan’Dale Robinson on a double pass play. We’ll return to that play in a moment, but we have to start with how the Giants reached the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.
With Winston catching a touchdown pass for the first time in his NFL career.
And it came on his first NFL career reception.
With the Giants facing a 1st-and-10 situation early in the fourth quarter, Winston faked a handoff to running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. before flipping the ball to wide receiver Gunner Olszewski. After flipping the ball to the wide receiver, Winston leaked out of the backfield and into the secondary along the left sideline.
Olszewski was pressured behind the line of scrimmage and broke ahead, looking as if he was going to run with the ball. But at the last moment he lofted a throw to Winston, who took it from there:
Somehow, Winston broke through the tackle attempt from linebacker Derrick Barnes, and barreled into the end zone for the touchdown.
Again, this was not only the first receiving touchdown of Winston’s career, but the first catch of his NFL career.
As noted, here is the trick play from earlier:
Again, the Giants may end up eliminated from playoff contention today, even with a win.
But they are going down swinging.
