There were sacks from Kayvon Thibodeaux — 1.5 of them — and four tackles and four quarterback hits.
But there was also something else that he knew would be brought up not long after the Giants on Sunday secured a 14-7 victory over the Commanders at MetLife Stadium.
“Ah, man, I knew that was gonna come,’’ Thibodeaux said.
Of course it was going to be mentioned.
The Giants were leading 14-7 late in the fourth quarter when Sam Howell was pressured by Micah McFadden and threw the ball up for grabs.
Thibodeaux, standing on the Washington 19-yard line, was there to grab it.
There was no one near him as the ball floated his way.
This was a pick-six waiting to happen.
But it did not.
The ball fell through his hands to the turf.
“Man, it went from an interception to a punt return,’’ Thibodeaux said. “I saw the open grass and I saw the blockers and I looked up and it just hit me in the stomach.’’
If the Giants did not hold on, this missed opportunity would have been devastating.
The way it turned out, it was merely embarrassing.
“I don’t even want to talk to him after that one,’’ safety Xavier McKinney said, smiling. “We’re gonna have to get him on the Juggs machine catching some balls in the air. That was just … I don’t have much to say about that.’’
Rookie Eric Gray muffed his first punt return attempt and was fortunate teammate Nick McCloud recovered the loose ball.
Gray went down with a calf injury in the first quarter while fielding his second punt and was replaced in that role by veteran Sterling Shepard.
That did not go well, either.
On a windy day and trying to track gifted lefty punter Tres Way, Shepard looked shaky on his first two punt returns and, in the third quarter, called for a fair catch but muffed a punt for a turnover on the Giants’ 21-yard line, leading to the only points for the Commanders.
When Darius Slayton caught the next punt for the Giants, the fans cheered.
“First of all, Shep with the fumble, we’re not going to … obviously everyone knows how I feel about Shep, but catching punts is not an easy thing to do,’’ Saquon Barkley said. “That’s not his position. Hats off to him for going back there and just competing for us. Obviously, it didn’t go the way he would like it to go but that’s a tough thing to do and he went out there and gave it his best.”
Shepard practices catching punts in practice but had not returned a punt in an NFL game since arriving to the Giants in 2016.
Another game, another iteration of the Giants’ offensive line.
This one added Tyre Phillips — signed off the Eagles’ practice squad this past week — starting at right tackle in place of Evan Neal, who missed his first game of the season with a sprained ankle.
Justin Pugh, signed two weeks ago, made his first NFL start at left tackle since 2015.
Marcus McKethan moved from right guard to start at left guard.
Mark Glowinski started at right guard and Ben Bredeson was at center in place of rookie John Michael Schmitz, who missed his third consecutive game with a shoulder injury.
The coaching staff wanted to pair a veteran (Pugh) with a youngster (McKethan) on the left side and a veteran (Glowinski) with a newcomer (Phillips) on the right side.
“I think the communication was better,’’ coach Brian Daboll said.
Tyrod Taylor was sacked four times by the Commanders.
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