In the final week of the 2021 regular season, the New York Giants closed out an ugly campaign with a 22-7 loss to the Washington Commanders.
That game was the last for head coach Joe Judge, who was fired shortly thereafter.
The final nail in the coffin likely came during the second quarter when, trailing 3-0, Judge called back-to-back quarterback sneaks from inside the five-yard line.
“I wasn’t going to live through what happened last week in Chicago,” Judge told reporters after the game, referring to a Week 17 safety. “We’re going to give ourselves room for the punt. We did that. We played the field-position situation I wanted to play.”
The calls were widely panned on social media and rightfully so. It was an embarrassing moment for one of the NFL’s great franchises and it left a stain that lingers to this day.
Earlier this week, former Giants wideout Alex Bachman recalled receiving word of the second consecutive sneak while in the huddle.
“I thought I was concussed when I heard this play call in the huddle,” Bachman wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I came off on the sideline looking around. I thought for sure I was trippin.”
Earlier in the game, the Giants also called an end-around for Bachman but left the defensive end unblocked, allowing for an easy tackle three yards behind the line of scrimmage.
“With no one covering their DE rushing straight up the field,” Bachman wrote. “I got an apology on the sideline for that one.”
What an ugly time in Giants history.