Diggs Scores With 57 Seconds Left as Commanders Beat Giants 24-21

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Washington Commanders had this game lost twice in the fourth quarter, by their own quarterback's hand, and won it anyway. Jayden Daniels threw his first two interceptions of the season on back-to-back drives inside the final six minutes, watched the New York Giants fail to run out the clock both times, and then needed three plays and 49 seconds to go 71 yards — the last 32 of them a strike to Stefon Diggs, who caught the ball at the New York 25, broke Dru Phillips' tackle and scored with 57 seconds remaining.

Rasul Douglas intercepted J.J. McCarthy at the Washington 11 with 25 seconds left, and the Commanders beat the Giants 24-21 on Thursday Night Football at MetLife Stadium, according to Reuters' game report. Five weeks after these two teams played to a 27-27 overtime tie nobody could finish, the rematch got finished — by the team that had spent two months failing to finish anything. Follow the finish in the Game Center.

The numbers say New York should have won. The Giants outgained Washington 399 yards to 340, per NBC Sports, and got career nights from the two players who have carried their offense since Jaxson Dart was lost for the season. McCarthy, in his first home start as a Giant, threw for a career-high 293 yards. Isaiah Likely caught nine passes for 127 yards. None of it survived the last two minutes, because the Giants' offense went three-and-out after each of the two interceptions that should have ended the night, and a shanked punt handed Washington the field position for the drive that did.

Two interceptions, then one drive

The fourth quarter was a collapse in stages. Likely's 66-yard catch-and-run — McCarthy threading the ball to him at midfield, the tight end sidestepping left and outrunning the secondary — put the Giants up 21-17 with 8:13 left, and MetLife sounded like a building that had just watched the division get put away. Washington drove straight back down the field, and then the season flipped twice in four throws. Jevon Holland intercepted Daniels at the New York 2-yard line with 5:27 remaining, taking the ball away from Chig Okonkwo — Daniels' first interception of the year, after 207 consecutive passes without one, according to Reuters.

The Giants gave the ball back. Ar'Darius Washington then stepped in front of another Daniels throw to Okonkwo at the Washington 46 with 2:15 left. The Giants gave the ball back again, this time after a curiosity: on fourth-and-1 from their own 11 with 3:27 left, backup Jameis Winston — the designated sneak quarterback — lined up under center and worked through an elaborate hard count before New York took a delay of game and punted, NBC Sports reported.

Washington took over at its own 29 with 1:47 left. A 33-yard pass interference penalty on Deonte Banks, covering Treylon Burks, did most of the work; Diggs did the rest. He finished with six catches for 83 yards and the touchdown, his sixth score of the season. Daniels finished 23-of-33 for 249 yards with three touchdowns and the two interceptions — a line that reads like two different quarterbacks, which, for about ten minutes, it was.

Likely and Skattebo had it won

It is worth sitting with how good the Giants' two headliners were, because both of them deserved to be writing this story from the other side. Likely's 66-yarder was the longest touchdown of his career, and it capped a night in which McCarthy looked for him 11 times. Cam Skattebo, back after missing Sunday's win in Philadelphia with a hamstring injury, ran 18 times for 78 yards and both of New York's other touchdowns — a 1-yard plunge that finished a 16-play, 72-yard march late in the first half, and a 13-yard pitch early in the third quarter that he celebrated with a backflip in the end zone. The New York Post reported it was Skattebo's second career game with multiple rushing touchdowns. He was, for three quarters, the best player on the field.

The supporting details kept betraying them, though. Malik Nabers caught a 37-yard pass deep into Washington territory in the third quarter and fumbled it away on a Frankie Luvu hit, Jeremy Reaves recovering. Rookie kicker Dominic Zvada missed a 33-yard field goal wide left in the first half — points that would have changed every decision of the final minute. And the two three-and-outs after the interceptions, with a chance to end the game on the ground, are the possessions this loss will be remembered by in the building.

A street fight for three quarters

Before the ending went frantic, the game was a grind played under a weather threat — fall thunderstorms cleared the stadium before warmups and rain hung around early, per NorthJersey.com's live account. The first quarter was scoreless. Drew Stevens opened the scoring with a 46-yard field goal early in the second, Skattebo's first touchdown answered it, and Washington took a 10-7 halftime lead on a 1-yard Daniels pass to Ben Sinnott with five seconds left in the half — Sinnott, the backup tight end pressed in after Okonkwo left with a back injury, finished with a career-high four catches for 46 yards, according to USA TODAY.

Skattebo's second touchdown made it 14-10 Giants early in the third; rookie Antonio Williams answered with a 31-yard catch-and-run, only his second career touchdown, and Washington led 17-14 into the fourth. The lead changed hands four times in the second half alone.

What it does to the East

Washington is 3-5-1, alive in a way a loss would have ended on the spot — the Commanders now sit within two games of the Giants in the loss column, and they have not lost to New York in six meetings (5-0-1) since November 2023. The Giants fall to 5-3-1, still first in the NFC East, but the cushion they spent Sunday building in Philadelphia is mostly gone: a win would have pushed their playoff probability to 78 percent, the New York Post reported via Next Gen Stats, and the loss leaves it at 50. This was also New York's first loss inside the division, on a five-day turnaround after the Eagles game, with McCarthy — acquired from Minnesota in late September after Dart's season-ending knee surgery — playing well enough to win twice over.

The mini-bye gives both teams a breath. The Giants host the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, November 22, in a game the league flexed to a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff, Giants.com noted. Washington gets the longer runway and the bigger stage: the Cincinnati Bengals at home on Monday Night Football, November 23. The standings, schedules and full Week 10 board are on Previously's NFL front and the NFL Stats Hub — and the preview of this game, published before kickoff, is here. Somebody finally finished the tie. It just was not the team that led with two minutes to play.