National Football League

WFT defeats New York Giants: Top moments from Thursday Night Football

Updated Sep. 17, 2021 12:09 a.m. ET

To open the second week of the season, the Washington Football Team celebrated a home win over the NFC East rival New York Giants in thrilling fashion.

Taylor Heinicke, who is filling in for an injured Ryan Fitzpatrick, led Washington to its first W of the season in his third career start. By narrowly escaping the Giants, 30-29, WFT sends New York to 0-2 for the fifth consecutive season.

Coming into Thursday's game, the Giants had won five straight games against Washington, and QB Daniel Jones was 4-0 in starts against WFT. The Giants are now 3-14 in their past 17 September games.

Here are the top moments from Thursday night.

Washington Football Team 30, New York Giants 29

FIRST QUARTER

The Giants came out strong in the first quarter with one big play after the next.

On just the third play of the game, Heinicke was sacked by rookie Azeez Ojulari for a loss of 16 yards, forcing Washington to punt on its first drive.

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Midway through the frame, Jones got the Giants on the board first with this short run to take an early 7-0 lead.

Star running back Saquon Barkley got in the action, breaking out on this 41-yard run to move the Giants down the field.

As the first frame came to a close, Washington snagged its inaugural first down of the game thanks to this incredible catch from rookie receiver Dyami Brown.

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SECOND QUARTER

To start the second quarter, Washington picked up right where it left off, as Heinicke connected with Terry McLaurin to knot things up at 7.

Midway through the frame, Jones exploded for the most exciting rush of the night thus far, a 58-yard touchdown run – but it was called back, and the Giants settled for a field goal.

To close out the first half, Washington took the lead when J.D. McKissic found the end zone with a mere 21 seconds to spare before the break.

THIRD QUARTER

The second half started relatively quiet until the end of the third when Jones found Darius Slayton along the sideline on this perfectly placed, 33-yard pass, to make it a six-point game.

FOURTH QUARTER

Midway through the frame, the Giants had a chance to extend their lead, but Slayton wasn't able to reel in Jones' pass …

… and Washington took full advantage of its newfound window of opportunity.

Heinicke connected with McKissic for a whopping 56-yard gain, which set up this clutch touchdown catch from tight end Ricky Seals-Jones.

And just like that, Washington took the lead for the first time in the game.

As the two-minute warning approached, Heinicke's pass intended for McLaurin was intercepted by Giants' cornerback James Bradberry, which allowed New York to take back the lead with a field goal.

Trailing by three at the two-minute warning, Dustin Hopkins nailed a 43-yarder in the final seconds to secure the win after missing his first attempt, a 48-yarder that was negated due to an offsides penalty called on the Giants.

Here's how the sports world reacted to Thursday's game.

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