Cam Skattebo felt sick enough to stop on the sideline in the first half on Thursday night, and he still ran for two touchdowns against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium. It was not enough. The New York Giants lost 24-21 on November 12 when Stefon Diggs caught a 32-yard touchdown with 57 seconds left.
The cause was nothing worse than a bad pregame snack. Asked about it after the game, the second-year running back blamed a pretzel-wrapped hot dog. “It didn’t sit right in the stomach. Nothing crazy,” Skattebo told reporters. “Got rid of it, felt good after.”
Skattebo’s night in numbers
He was back from a one-game absence with a hamstring injury, and the Giants leaned on him right away. According to the team’s own game analysis, he finished with 18 carries for 78 yards and two rushing touchdowns, plus three catches for 44 yards. One of those receptions went for 34 yards, the longest catch of his career.
His first score came on a one-yard run late in the first half. It finished a 16-play, 72-yard drive that ate 7 minutes and 48 seconds, the Giants’ longest drive of the season by number of plays. Backup quarterback Jameis Winston, used again in short-yardage packages, handed him the ball on that one. Skattebo added his second rushing touchdown after halftime.
Add it up and he produced 122 yards from scrimmage on 21 touches, or about 5.8 yards every time he got the ball. His 4.3 yards per carry came against a defense that held the Giants to three-and-outs on both of their final two possessions.
A Thursday night specialist
The two scores put Skattebo in the record book. The Giants say he now has five rushing touchdowns in his first two Thursday Night Football games, the most by any player in the Super Bowl era. The first three came last October, when he ran for a career-high three touchdowns against the Philadelphia Eagles on another short week.
Coach John Harbaugh had no complaints about his running back. “Cam played really well. Cam ran hard,” Harbaugh said after the game. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who threw for a career-high 293 yards, went further. “He is a force multiplier in terms of his energy, the way he runs the ball, he runs so hard,” McCarthy said.
How the Giants let it slip
Tight end Isaiah Likely put New York ahead 21-17 with a 66-yard touchdown catch with 8:13 to play. Safeties Jevón Holland and Ar’Darius Washington then intercepted Jayden Daniels on back-to-back drives, the first picks Daniels had thrown all season. Each time, the Giants’ offense went three-and-out, and Washington needed only 49 seconds on its final drive to win it.
It was the Giants’ first division loss of the season, and the first time this year they lost a game they led in the fourth quarter. They are 5-3-1 and still top the NFC East; Washington moved to 3-5-1. If you are following the rest of the league this week, our recap of Jordan Love’s 372-yard day as the Packers beat the Patriots and our story on Kurt Warner’s appeal to all 32 NFL teams for his son E.J. are good places to start.
Skattebo said he was not worried about the loss. “They got us this time,” he said. “But we’ve got the rest of the division to handle and we’ll let it work itself out.” His next chance comes against the 6-2 Jacksonville Jaguars at MetLife Stadium in Week 11, in a game the NFL has moved to a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff.
Further reading
Image: MarineCorps NewYork from New York City, USA, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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