Stefon Diggs watched Jayden Daniels throw interceptions on back-to-back drives late Thursday night, and he said the quarterback walked back into the huddle unchanged. “Kobe Bryant. Poise,” Diggs said on the field after Washington’s 24-21 win over the New York Giants. “He didn’t flinch. He looked the exact same. He knew he was gonna have a chance to win. He echoed that, and I feel like we rallied behind him.”
Diggs then finished the drive Daniels got back. With 57 seconds left at MetLife Stadium, he ran past the coverage, caught a 32-yard pass in stride and fell backward into the end zone. It was the 80th touchdown catch of his career, making him the 30th player in league history to reach that mark.
“I actually lost that ball”
Asked about the milestone, Diggs said he did not have the football. “I actually lost that ball. I was gonna bring it, but I lost that ball,” he said. “But I’m thankful. It’s been a crazy year for us. We’re trying to get on the right track.” He added: “I hope we’re heading in the right direction.”
He credited the week of practice as much as the final drive. “We came out here a little shaky, we had some execution problems here and there, but we cleaned it up,” he said, “and we saw what kind of team we could be when we played ahead of the sticks, not behind the sticks.”
“The old DeSean Jackson”
At the podium, Diggs said the winning play came from communication the offense had worked on all week against a Giants defense that leaned on Cover 0. “They played a lot of zero. They’re kind of similar to our defense, which was kind of crazy,” he said. “One of the plays that we just tried to execute, and we ended up getting it in the game, and it worked.” Asked whether he changed the route, he smiled: “Maybe. Maybe not.”
He was less sentimental about the moment itself. “I’ve been doing this … a long time. I ain’t got no feeling,” Diggs said. His one worry was the clock. “I was kind of worried about how much time we had left. I was wondering if I should have wasted a couple more seconds. You know, the old DeSean Jackson.” That was a nod to Jackson’s punt return for the Eagles in December 2010, when he ran along the goal line to let the final seconds tick off before scoring the winning touchdown against the Giants, in the same stadium.
On Daniels, he went further than the on-field interview. “Baby Kobe. He ain’t flinch. He’s gonna be the same kind of player he is in the beginning of the game and the end of the game,” Diggs said. “Things are gonna happen, good and bad. He isn’t gonna change.”
“Going for the gold every time”
A day before the game, Diggs had told reporter Marshall Kramsky that if a receiver does not get out of bounds, “you better score.” He did not get out of bounds on Thursday. He said he saw two defenders, did “a little bit of a head check” and kept going. “Like I told you last time,” Diggs said, “I’m going for the gold every time.”
Daniels: “Got that out of my system”
Daniels had not thrown an interception all season before Jevón Holland took one away at the Giants’ 2-yard line with 5:27 left, on his 208th attempt. Ar’Darius Washington picked him off again on fourth-and-2 with 2:19 to go. The Giants could not run out the clock, a 33-yard pass interference call on Deonte Banks moved Washington to the New York 38, and three snaps later Diggs scored.
“Yes, I threw two picks,” Daniels said. “Got that out of my system, so I can move forward. But it just shows resilience and the belief that the team has in me.” He said he will still “kick myself” for the mistakes in critical moments, “but defense picked it up, and I still had the opportunity to win the game. I was able to give him the ball, and he did the rest.”
A bigger role than expected
Diggs, 33, grew up in Olney, Maryland, and played at the University of Maryland. He signed a one-year deal with Washington on August 7 after New England released him in March, coming off an 85-catch, 1,013-yard season for the Patriots. With Terry McLaurin out for the season with a knee injury since October, Diggs is the most experienced target Daniels has left.
He finished Thursday with six catches for 83 yards on 10 targets. That gives him 36 catches for 386 yards and six touchdowns this season, already more touchdowns than he had in all of 2025. Washington is 3-5-1, two games behind the 5-3-1 Giants in the NFC East, and hosts the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday, November 23.
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