The New York Giants, coming off consecutive disappointing results, blew a lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter on Sunday.
They still emerged with a 27-21 overtime win against the host Houston Texans, prompting New York coach John Harbaugh to laud the mentality of his players.
“It says so much about them and who they are,” Harbaugh said, “the type of men they are, the type of mindset they have, the attitude, the approach to just doing everything possible to be successful, understanding that if things aren’t working out for you, that’s not the final say. You have the final say on everything ultimately, and they just do that.
“We are where we are now because we didn’t quit. We didn’t back down. We didn’t sulk … so I’m just proud of the guys for that, but that’s who they are. It’s not anything other than their character shining through, and I just have so much admiration for those guys for that very thing.”
The Giants (4-2-1) managed to bounce back on Sunday after drawing on Oct. 11 against the Washington Commanders, who mismanaged the clock with a chance to win in overtime, before losing on Oct. 18 to the New Orleans Saints.
Thanks to a strong overtime performance on Sunday, the Giants now enter their bye week on a positive note. In the extra session, they forced a three-and-out from the Texans, then drove 81 yards in just three plays for the win. Following a 9-yard completion from J.J. McCarthy to Malik Nabers, Cam Skattebo scampered 42 yards up the middle to put New York in field-goal range.
On the next play, Devin Singletary raced 30 yards up the middle to end the contest. In the subsequent celebration, Singletary gave Harbaugh a hug that turned into a tackle.
Harbaugh jokingly declared himself “day-to-day” regarding his physical recovery from the interaction.
“It’s so bad. It’s so terrible,” Harbaugh said with a laugh regarding the optics of the incident. “As I was going down, all I could think was like, I mean, I just felt like a total non-athlete, over the hill, washed up. I don’t know, man. I just felt so weak, so pathetic.
“But once we were on the ground laughing and enjoying the moment and celebrating the football joy moment of the touchdown run, it just made sense. It made all the sense in the world. So, it was just a great moment.
“I mean, that whole moment, it’s funny because we talked about with our team, we talked about football joy. We talked about playing with joy. What is football joy? It’s different than other kinds of joy.”