How the Giants' 27-27 Overtime Tie at Washington Happened and What It Means for the NFC East Standings
Forty-three seconds ran off before Washington's last overtime snap. The tie leaves the Giants at .700, and no division tiebreaker can involve Dallas or Philadelphia unless one of them ties or the Giants tie again.
The Giants' 27-27 overtime tie at Washington on Sunday counts as half a win and half a loss. At 3-1-1 they have a .700 winning percentage and lead the NFC East. As long as the Giants have one tie, they can finish level on percentage only with a team that also has an odd number of ties. Right now the only such team in the division is Washington.
The overtime rules
Regular-season overtime is one 10-minute period. Both teams must get the opportunity to possess the ball unless the 10-minute period runs out first. The other exception is a safety by the kicking team on the first possession, which ends the game. After both teams have had the ball, the team that is ahead wins. If the teams are still tied, the next score of any kind wins.
If the score is still level when the period ends, the rulebook says, "the game shall result in a tie." Each team gets two timeouts, and the timing rules of a fourth quarter apply.
Washington won the toss and chose to kick off. The Giants got the ball first, and kicker Dominic Zvada missed a 46-yard field goal. Washington's first possession ended in a punt, so both teams had possessed the ball and the next score would win. Neither team scored again.
How the clock ran out
Washington used both of its overtime timeouts with 6:32 left. Washington defensive tackle Daron Payne forced a fumble by running back Cam Skattebo on the first snap after the two-minute warning, and the Commanders took over at their 23 with 1:55 left.
They reached the Giants 26 on a 13-yard completion that ended with the receiver pushed out of bounds. Under fourth-quarter timing, the clock stopped and restarted on the next snap, with 55 seconds left. Running back Rachaad White ran for 2 yards to the 24 and was tackled in bounds. The rulebook's list of reasons to stop the clock includes an incomplete pass and the ball going out of bounds. A runner tackled in the field of play is not on it, and Washington had no timeout to call.
The next snap came with 12 seconds left, 43 seconds after the previous one. The rules let a quarterback stop the clock by spiking the ball, throwing it straight into the ground immediately after the snap. Washington neither spiked the ball nor tried a field goal, which from the 24 would have been about 42 yards. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds sacked quarterback Jayden Daniels for no gain, and the period ended. A sack is not on the list of reasons to stop the clock either.
Commanders coach Dan Quinn took the blame in comments the team posted. "We don't need to gain more yards, so that's on me," he said.
How rare ties are
Ties became more common after the NFL changed regular-season overtime in 2012. That year the league adopted the overtime format it used in the playoffs, so a first-possession field goal no longer ended the game. In 2017 it cut the period from 15 minutes to 10.
In nflverse game data, 2 of 201 regular-season overtime games from 1999 to 2011 ended tied. From 2012 to 2016, 5 of 83 did. From 2017 through Week 5 of this season, 9 of 137 did. Giants.com reported in May 2017, citing NFL Research, that 16 of the 83 overtime games from 2012 to 2016 would have ended tied under a 10-minute limit, instead of five. After the 2017 cut, the rate rose from 6.0% to 6.6%. The NFL Research projection implied about 19%.
Before the 2025 season the league gave both teams a chance at a possession even after an opening-drive touchdown in regular-season overtime, while keeping the 10-minute period. The Giants' tie is the second under that format. The first was Green Bay and Dallas, 40-40, on Sept. 28, 2025. The Giants' previous two ties were also against Washington, 20-20 on Dec. 4, 2022, and 7-7 on Nov. 23, 1997.
What it counts for
The Giants' 3-1-1 record works out to 3.5 wins in five games, or .700.
| Team | W-L-T | Pct. | Division |
|---|---|---|---|
| Giants | 3-1-1 | .700 | 1-0-1 |
| Cowboys | 2-3 | .400 | 1-1 |
| Eagles | 2-3 | .400 | 1-0 |
| Commanders | 1-3-1 | .300 | 0-2-1 |
Two teams that play 17 games can finish with the same percentage only if both have an odd number of ties or both have an even number. A 10-6-1 Giants team would be at .618, between 10-7 (.588) and 11-6 (.647). Dallas and Philadelphia have no ties. As long as that holds and the Giants keep one, no division tiebreaker can come into play between the Giants and either team.
Washington, which has the same tie, is the exception. The first two-team division tiebreaker is head-to-head record. The Giants and Commanders are 0-0-1 against each other, and Washington visits MetLife Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 12. The winner of that game would hold the head-to-head edge at 1-0-1. Another tie would leave the series 0-0-2. Division record would be the next step.
Four of the Giants' remaining 12 games are against the NFC East: at Philadelphia on Nov. 8, home against Washington on Nov. 12, at Dallas on Jan. 3 and home against Philadelphia on Jan. 10.
The Giants host the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Oct. 18.