LANDOVER, Md. - The New York Giants blamed bad luck, in part, for what transpired Sunday afternoon in yet another walk-off loss that left them with a far-too-familiar combination of emotions: angry, regretful and deflated.
Truth be told, given the franchise's fortunes for more than a decade, they should have seen it coming.
On face value alone, it's hard to blame the Giants' losing the game solely because of not preparing for the worst-case scenario that unfolded in their 21-18 defeat to the Washington Commanders .
I mean, what are the odds that Graham Gano would injure his hamstring on the opening kickoff just one day after being added to the injury report with a groin issue? This is the same team that lost All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas to a hamstring injury when he tried to chase down a blocked field goal in the 2023 season opener, the same team that gambled with having Gano kick despite a knee injury that would ultimately require surgery, only to watch him miss a potential game-winning field goal in an eventual stunning overtime loss to the Jets last October.
The Giants did not allow a touchdown and they scored three of their own, yet lost the game in regulation.
This is believed to have never happened in NFL history before Sunday.
They lost their Pro Bowl kicker on the opening kickoff - one that got called back due to a Washington penalty! - and proceeded to spend the next three or so hours kicking themselves in the proverbial head with mistakes at the most inopportune times. And in a cruel twist of fate, Washington beat them with SEVEN field goals by a kicker, Austin Seibert, who joined the team five days earlier.
You've heard of Murphy's Law? Well, Murphy must have been a Giants fan.
Now the Giants are 0-2 for the first time since Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen took over as head coach and general manager, the last place they need to be in a season where a fast start was so important. It's hard to forget Schoen walking the hallway that connected the suites inside Lucas Oil Stadium back at the Combine in March, speaking on how critical it was for the Giants to avoid the kind of insurmountable hole in which they were buried a year ago.
Since 2013, spanning five head coaches and three GMs, the Giants have started 0-2 nine times, most in the NFL.
So when Daboll is asked about his job security in the post-game news conference two games into his third season - having won NFL Coach of the Year honors just two years ago - it's somewhat of an unfair stretch without the history attached to the job he now holds.
But given the fact that Daboll is the first Giants coach since Tom Coughlin to get a third season, and how Big Blue - in its 100th season as an organization - has become a punching bag in some league circles, dismissing the past is a tough ask for many to do.
"I've done this for a long time," Daboll said. "My focus is on our football team."
The best part of that football team also had a difficult time coming to grips with his reality Sunday.
The high and low of Malik Nabers
Malik Nabers, the dynamic rookie who was essentially unguardable for much of the game against the Commanders, finished with 10 catches on 18 targets for 127 yards - his first career 100-yard game - and his first career touchdown .
But after carrying the Giants' offense, nearly every time Daniel Jones looked his way, Nabers failed to hold onto the final throw that did - a fourth-and-4 from the 22 with 2:04 remaining - and the play left him pounding the grass in frustration. The lasting image of the 21-year-old Nabers was the one of him stretched out on the sideline, facemask in his hands and beating himself up for the one play out he was unable to make.
“This whole week I'm going to think about it until I play the next game,” Nabers said. “And then it goes in the past. Until then, I'm going to continue to think about it.”
How did Daniel Jones play against Commanders?
Jones played a much better game against Washington than he did in Week 1 against Minnesota, which is now 2-0 after upsetting San Francisco, by the way. He wasn't perfect (16-of-28, 178 yards, 2 TDs) and the explosive plays were as much about Nabers' ability than anything else, but it was a performance the Giants could win with.
And give Jones credit for navigating the pocket on that fourth down, getting the ball to Nabers where only he could make a play. Had Nabers been able to squeeze the football and move the chains, perhaps the Giants get in the end zone, Nabers gets to celebrate a career game in which he came through for the team and the rest of us get off Jones’ back for a week.
Hurting feeling for Giants
"I'm hurt that I let the veterans down, they know what kind of player I am," Nabers said. "I know what kind of confidence they have in me. The main motto that's in my head is, 'Don't let my team down,' and I let my team down."
Nabers got it wrong - he's the player he is already because he sees things that way - but there's no way Big Blue is even in position to win the game Sunday without him.
The Giants let the Giants down. They had a chance to change the narrative of their season.
Yes, the Commanders aren't going to confuse anyone with being Super Bowl contenders, let alone a playoff team right now. They have a franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels and something else the Giants don't have yet - a win.
This was a missed opportunity for the Giants in so many respects, yet another in a decade of harsh lessons learned and, unfortunately, repeated more than once.
As Nabers promised about his drop: "This whole week I'm going to think about it."
And as usual, for the Giants, there's a lot to think about and far too much to just simply forget and move on.
Someday, the Giants will punch their way out of this and get back to winning consistently, making their own luck.
But as noted earlier: they should've seen this coming. Murphy the Giants fan certainly would have.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Kick in the head: NY Giants' worst-case scenario comes true yet again in Washington loss
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