The New York Giants suffered a disappointing loss to the Washington Commanders Thursday night, a loss that could haunt them for the rest of the season.
"It's disappointing, yeah," head coach John Harbaugh said after the 24-21 loss at MetLife Stadium. "I mean, I think that's the best word. It's just disappointing. We worked hard for this, and we put a hard week in. And we were prepared.
"The guys came out with, I thought, tremendous energy. We played very hard. Plays were made. Plays were missed. But it wasn't good enough to win the game. And that's the disappointment of it. So it's disappointing, but you can't let it bring you down... We'll keep fighting."
The loss dropped the Giants to 5-3-1, but they've held on to first place in the NFC East
for at least another week. Washington improved to 3-5-1 and is now third in the division. The win, however, gives them a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Giants.
The NFC East is still in the Giants' hands. They lead the Commanders by two games and will at least lead Dallas by one game regardless of Sunday's outcome.
The Cowboys, 4-5, are in second place and are hosting the 7-1 San Francisco 49ers this Sunday afternoon. A win would move them to 5-5, a major upset, as prediction sites show 72 percent of the public favoring San Francisco in this game. A Dallas loss would drop them to 4-6 but keep them in second place.
The missed opportunity was not lost on Harbaugh. He maintained a brave face during his postgame presser, but he was clearly deflated.
"It would have been nice to open up a lead in the division. We didn't open it up as much as we could have if we had got the win," he said. "We've got a lot of tough games. What do we have, [eight] games left? So it's going to be [eight] dogfights. That's what it's going to be. It's the National Football League. I'd like to say we're going to win all [eight] of them. But it's probably not very likely. You're probably not going to be putting any money down on that.
"So we've got to win enough. And this was one that got away. We've got to find a way to get the next one. And the next one after that. And the next one after that. And get as many as we need to win the division. That's what we've got to find a way to do. So just try to keep it in perspective is very important."
The Giants will get a few extra days of rest before their next game next Sunday at home against the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars. Last week, the NFL flexed the game from the early television window to the late window.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Despite loss, New York Giants will enter Week 11 still atop the NFC East
