The Giants lost their eighth straight game, falling to the Washington Commanders by a score of 29-21 to drop to 2-12 on the season.

Here are the key takeaways....

-- Trailing by 15 points late in the fourth, the Giants made a late push. After Dane Belton forced a Marcus Mariota fumble and Brian Burns rumbled deep into Washington territory, Jaxson Dart made some magic happen on fourth down, finding Wan'Dale Robinson for a 16-yard touchdown. Mike Kafka, going against analytical thinking, kicked the extra point instead of going for two, keeping the Commanders' lead at eight with under four minutes to play.

Then, with Washington looking to run out the clock, Abdul Carter, who had a monster game, was somehow able to rip the ball out of Jeremy McNichols' hands, recovering it himself with the ball near midfield.

But the magic ended there. On fourth-and-eight, Dart's pass fell incomplete, and with New York having no timeouts left, the Commanders were able to kneel out the clock.

-- It was a tale of two halves for Dart. Starting just 3-of-8 as a passer, the rookie did do some nice things with his legs, including a 29-yard run up the middle to set up a Tyrone Tracy Jr. 12-yard touchdown, but the elements seemed to affect him as a passer. Dart was just 7-of-16 for 71 yards in the first half, with one costly interception...

-- The Commanders jumped out to a 10-0 lead, thanks in part to some porous Giants run defense on a Jacory Croskey-Merritt TD run. But the Tracy TD made it just a 13-7 game. That's when a huge swing occurred. Instead of potentially taking the lead, the Giants were forced to punt, and Jaylin Lane ran it back 63 yards for a touchdown. Immediately after, Dart was picked off by Mike Sainrisil, which set up a chip-shot field goal as time expired in the half. Instead of potentially going up 14-13, the Giants trailed 22-7 at the break.

-- But Dart answered back to start the second half, finding Theo Johnson for 24 yards before perfectly placing a touchdown pass to Tracy, who was covered tightly by Bobby Wagner. Later, Dart converted a fourth-and-one from the Giants' 40-yard line, staying patient and finding Daniel Bellinger for a 12-yard gain. After Darius Slayton couldn't come down with a would-be touchdown, Younghoe Koo missed a 51-yarder, his second missed field goal of the game.

With Graham Gano dealing with injuries, the Giants' kicking game, between Jude McAtamney and Koo, has been a mess. On the ensuing drive, Marcus Mariota found a wide-open Terry McLaurin for a 51-yard touchdown, all but icing the game at 29-14 with under two minutes to play.

-- A silver lining for the Giants was the play of Carter.The third overall pick, who has dealt with off-the-field issues this season, was a wrecking ball, particularly in the first half, when he racked up three tackles for a loss, including a strip-sack (that Washington would recover. Carter finished with seven tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, two forced fumbles, and a quarterback hit.

-- Taking big hits has unfortunately been a theme of Dart's rookie season, and he once again took a hit that forced him to make a visit to the medical tent. On a first-and-goal play from the one-yard line, Dart tried to take it in himself but ended up getting crunched between the defenders. The good news is that he was able to come back into the game after a brief exit. The bad news was that the Giants ended up turning the ball over on downs after having first-and-goal from the one.

-- Dart finished the day 20-of-36 for 246 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Tracy ran for 70 yards and had two total touchdowns.

Game MVP

Croskey-Merritt, who ran for 96 yards and a touchdown.

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