The New York Giants and Washington Redskins played a game befitting of their respective seasons on Sunday Night Football in Week 13.
It was in the spotlight, though nobody quite knew why. On many levels, it was a disappointing display of football. And by the end, most people didn't care about the final result. They just wanted it to be over.
The Giants ended up winning the game 24-17 to improve to 5-7. That puts them two games back of both the Cowboys and the Eagles in the NFC East. Meanwhile, Washington falls to 3-9 a year after winning the division.
Believe it or not, the game actually started off in entertaining fashion. Robert Griffin III had the Redskins moving the ball on offense on their way to the first two touchdowns of the game. Eli Manning and company answered back in the second quarter, though. The Giants scored consecutive touchdowns heading into halftime and didn't look back from there, because Manning is the comeback kid, of course.
In typical NFC East fashion, things got sloppy in the second half. Manning threw an interception, but it wasn't the turnovers that made this one tough to watch. Both teams just struggled to move the football and lacked any sort of urgency in the second half.
The clock slowly and mercifully ticked toward zero. Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth were already talking about the the Monday night showdown between the Seahawks and Saints. They started looking ahead to future Sunday night games, as if wondering what they were doing in Washington in the first place.
It turned out to be a close game. Griffin had a chance to lead a game-winning touchdown drive in the final two minutes. Instead of a fantastic finish, the Redskins had three drops. Then the officials screwed up and changed their mind on the fly about whether or not the Redskins had picked up a first down. On the next play, Pierre Garcon caught the pass, but then he let a Giants defender rip it away from him.
The blown call was enough to get Michaels and Collinsworth as fired up as they were all night. Eventually, they let it go.
"Aside from that, there's not much going on tonight," Michaels said as he and Collinsworth signed off.
Fantasy studs and duds
Ladies and gentlemen, Giants running back Andre Brown is your fantasy stud of the night. He rushed for two touchdowns and was the only player in the game to pick up serious fantasy points on Sunday night.
Did they cover?
Washington was favored by 1.5 points, according to OddsShark, so they failed to cover.
What's next?
Redskins vs. Chiefs, Sunday Dec. 8 at 1 p.m.
Chargers vs. Giants, Sunday Dec. 8 at 4:25 p.m.
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