EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Antonio Gibson tried to not think of the yardage he needed to break 1,000 rushing yards in a season for the first time in his career. But as he walked back for halftime of Sunday’s 22-7 win over the New York Giants, the Washington running back looked up to see his first-half stats displayed on the large video boards at MetLife Stadium. Seventy-one rushing yards, the stat read. 

He couldn’t help but do the math from there. Gibson needed just 39 second-half yards.

“I said, ‘All right, I’m almost there,’” Gibson told reporters. 

Gibson accomplished his goal. The 23-year-old ran for a season-high 146 yards on 21 carries — putting his season total at 1,037 yards. And against the Giants, Gibson wasn’t the only player to reach the 1,000-yard marker, either. Terry McLaurin’s four-catch, 93-yard performance gave the star wide receiver 1,053 yards on the season, marking the second straight year in which McLaurin reached the milestone. 

On the surface, Washington’s season finale meant little with the team already eliminated from the playoffs. But as a unit, the offense rallied around Gibson and McLaurin to help them reach their accomplishments.

“It took me to the last game to get there,” Gibson said. “It’s a blessing.”

“I mean, shout out to the 17th game, right?” McLaurin laughed. 

This, of course, wouldn’t be possible without the NFL adding a 17th game this season. But that perhaps oversimplifies the achievement. For Gibson and McLaurin, hitting 1,000 yards signifies the latest step in their development. 

Gibson, for instance, battled through a litany of injuries all year, but was still able to appear in all but one game. And even then, Gibson’s lone absence was because of the virus. Fighting through shin, toe and hip injuries, Gibson was still able to grow as a runner. As the season progressed, Gibson found the balance of hitting the hole hard while also displaying patience to let the play develop. 

That’s not an easy task, but coach Ron Rivera said he saw Gibson’s confidence grow over the season. He praised the “couple of nice decisions” that Gibson made against New York. The 2020 third-rounder’s 18-yard touchdown put the game away in the fourth quarter.

“It was really good for him,” Rivera said of Gibson. “It was kind of neat because you saw him in the locker room when we talked about it, how confident and comfortable he was with himself and just really how much that unit has stuck together and done that kind of a job as far as the blocking to get a guy to rush for 1,000 yards.”

After hauling in 1,118 yards in 2020, McLaurin actually finished with fewer yards than he did a year ago. But the wide receiver not only took pride in his consistency — but also his durability. McLaurin played every game in a season for the first time since reaching the NFL in 2019, and the former third-rounder did so while handling a heavy workload.

Entering the weekend, McLaurin had played 90% of Washington’s offensive snaps — making him one of the few skill players in the NFL to reach that threshold. 

McLaurin, too, didn’t have to wait long Sunday to top 1,000 yards. He did so on the team’s first drive — first hauling in a catch of 11 yards and then beating his defender for a 40-yard reception. 

McLaurin knew right away he hit the marker.

“To be trusted to be the main guy is not as easy as it may sound, and you have to earn it every single day,” McLaurin said. “That’s been my mentality since I got drafted here, and I don’t think that’s going to change.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Taylor Heinicke was unaware of the date.

Fresh off Sunday’s 22-7 season finale victory over the New York Giants, the Washington quarterback had to be reminded that Jan. 9 marked the anniversary of last year’s gutsy playoff performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So many possibilities have materialized for Heinicke since that game — including his dream of being an NFL starter.

But while Heinicke said he’s proud of his personal progress, he knows that it wasn’t enough.

He and the Washington Football Team have more work to do, and Heinicke said he wants to help where he can.

“I just want to keep playing ball,” Heinicke said. “That could be starter, backup — I just want to be part of a team and help that team in any way I can.”

Washington’s season is officially over. The Burgundy and Gold finished 7-10 — matching their win total from last year (while adding one more loss, thanks to the new 17-game season). But after missing the playoffs this time around, the team enters the offseason with urgency. And at the top of the team’s to-do list? Deciding on a starting quarterback.

Heinicke is in the mix, but there are no guarantees.

After starting 15 games, Heinicke showed flashes of NFL talent. But his shortcomings — lack of size and a tendency to hold the ball too long — were also apparent.

Coach Ron Rivera has acknowledged for months that the team will use the coming weeks and months to explore finding an upgrade at the position — and the success or failure of Rivera’s tenure in Washington likely depends on whether he can find a solution under center that, so far, has eluded him.

There are other areas that will need to be addressed, as well. What will Rivera do after Washington’s defense regressed in 2021? And how will he take advantage of the considerable salary cap space the team has this offseason?

Rivera said he’ll use the upcoming week to weigh potential changes. For now, those don’t appear to extend to the coaching staff.
“No, I don’t anticipate doing anything other than the things we need to do to go forward,” Rivera said when asked if he expected staff changes.

The Burgundy and Gold’s situation could be worse. Sunday’s game, if nothing else, was a reminder of that. Over the course of the afternoon, thousands of angry Giants fans consistently booed and booed — directing their wrath at coach Joe Judge, general manager Dave Gettleman and owner John Mara.

The Giants (4-13) have produced the league’s worst record since 2017. And Judge’s two-year tenure, in particular, has been especially fraught with drama. On Sunday, the coach drew heavy criticism for the Giants’ back-to-back quarterback sneaks that were called on second and third down just so Riley Dixon would have more room to punt near his own end zone.

Despite earlier reports that indicated Judge’s job would be safe, the Giants ended the season in such a manner — they’ve now lost six straight by double digits — that one can’t help but wonder if ownership will reconsider.

“I’m not going to worry about those hypotheticals right now,” Judge said.

Rivera, at the very least, can go forward without having to worry about job security. And after remaking the team’s front office last year, Rivera said the “pieces are in place” to carry out the offseason plan.

Still, Rivera will need to restore hope to a fan base that rarely appeared at games this season. The team finished 31st in attendance — ahead of only the lowly Detriot Lions.  

If Sunday was Heinicke’s last game as Washington’s starter, he’ll have finished on a performance in which he threw for 120 yards on 9 of 18 passes. It wasn’t the quarterback’s best day, though Washington spent most of the afternoon running the back effectively (226 yards on 37 carries). Heinicke also found a connection with star wideout Terry McLaurin, who topped 1,000 yards for the second straight season after hauling in four catches for 93 yards against the Giants.

Days earlier, Heinicke said he felt as if he proved to critics that he could be durable throughout an NFL season.  The only start that Heinicke missed was because he tested positive for COVID-19  — not because he got hurt.  He said the work he put in to add 10 to 15 pounds of muscle in the summer paid off.

Against the Giants, Heinicke arguably didn’t have much to prove. Even if Washington adds another quarterback this offseason, Heinicke will likely be on the roster thanks to the two-year, $4.75 million contract he signed last year.

Heinicke said he just hopes to get another shot to start next season. He added he’s not worried about the uncertainty ahead. After all, before joining Washington in 2020, Heinicke was out of the NFL for more than a year. This time, Heinicke will have a job.

“You’ve kind of been through it before so you kind of know what to expect,” Heinicke said, “but I was at the lowest of lows so everything from here on out I feel like I’ve already kind of been through.

“I’ll be ready for it.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — If there were two plays to sum up the stakes of Sunday’s season finale between the Washington Football Team and the New York Giants, look no further than the back-to-back quarterback sneaks that the Giants ran in the second quarter.

Backed up near their own end zone, the Giants used Fromm to plow ahead for minimal yards — just so Riley Dixon would have more room to punt. 

The Giants’ fans — those who were there, anyway — booed and booed. Washington? The Burgundy and Gold would more than take it. 

Washington racked up an easy 22-7 victory Sunday over the Giants — improving to 7-10 to close the season. The victory put an end to a disappointing second season under coach Ron Rivera. While the team matched its win total from a year ago, Washington’s campaign ends without a trip to the playoffs after making the postseason in 2020.

From a football perspective, Rivera said he would use its finale to take an extended look at the team’s younger players. Because of COVID-19 and injuries, the Burgundy and Gold had already gotten a good look at most of its rookie class over the course of the season — but Rivera said Washington would use Week 18 to see if rookies like tight end John Bates and wide receiver Dyami Brown could take another step forward. 

But that didn’t stop the game from being borderline unwatchable.

With both teams eliminated from playoff contention, Sunday’s contest came off at times as if Washington and New York were just going through the motions to get to the final buzzer. It should have surprised no one that the matchup was the first game of the NFL’s early afternoon slate to finish first — both teams played it safe to drain the clock.

But among those conservative game plans, it was Washington who grabbed an early lead — a lead that felt insurmountable as soon as kicker Joey Slye nailed his 23-yard chip shot. Washington got into scoring position thanks to completions to star wideout Terry McLaurin, whose 93-yard day helped him top 1,000 yards for the second straight year. 

The Giants, meanwhile, did little to push Washington. Starting third-stringer Jake Fromm at quarterback, New York coach Joe Judge seemed content by handing the ball off to running backs Saquon Barkley and Devontae Booker — even as the Giants fell behind. 

Fromm finished with just 103 yards on 15 of 31 passing with one touchdown and two interceptions.  Washington safety Bobby McCain picked off the 2020 fifth-rounder twice — a pick-six in the third quarter and one to end the game in the fourth. Fromm’s lone touchdown came on a 22-yard, fourth-quarter strike to Darius Slayton. 

Over the last month, Judge has come under increased scrutiny in New York — with the Giants’ fan base calling for his firing. In response, Judge defended his record —10-22 entering Sunday — by resorting to passionate monologues in press conferences. Last week, he even took a swipe at Washington by saying his players haven’t gotten into “fistfights on the sideline” as other “clown show organizations.” 

Though Judge denied he was referring to Washington, the comment appeared to be a clear reference to Washington’s Jonathan Allen punching teammate Daron Payne. Rivera told a local radio station he was disappointed by the remark.

“To take a shot at people when people are going through what they’re going through, that’s not right,” Rivera said Friday on The Team 980. “If you don’t know and understand other people’s teams, talk about yourself; talk about your own team. That’s what’s fair.”

The Giants’ fan base displayed their frustration for Judge repeatedly throughout Sunday’s game. They sarcastically cheered practically each time Giants offensive lineman Korey Cunningham reported as eligible before the snap — a move that Judge went to often. They also booed often, such as when Washington running back Antonio Gibson (146 yards on 21 carries) put the game away with an 18-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. 

But their real discontent showed with the thousands upon thousands of empty seats. Like Washington, the Giants have alienated a once-proud fan base that appears to be fed up with years and years of losing seasons. The Giants haven’t made the playoffs since 2016 and have failed to have a winning record in the years since. 

Washington’s record in that same span hasn’t been quite as bad. But after a 2020 season that contained so much promise for the franchise, Rivera and Co. now enter the offseason trying to find a way to restore hope once again.