Giants vs. Washington 2017: Time, TV schedule for Thursday night Thanksgiving football

Washington and the New York Giants will engage in their first of two meetings this season. Both teams do not have much of a chance to make the playoffs, but they can still battle for respect in an NFC East showdown on Thanksgiving. The Giants will travel to the nation’s capital to face Washington in primetime at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC (live stream).

New York (2-8) just knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs, 12-9, in Week 11. The Giants are still having a bad season, and they’ve been inconsistent on both sides of the ball this year. However, the momentum the captured against Kansas City could carry over against Washington. New York doesn’t have a division win this season — but it could change that by playing better on offense and scoring more points. The Giants only average 16.2 points this season — which ranks 30th in the NFL.

Washington (4-6), on the other hand, is coming off a heartbreaking 34-31 loss against the New Orleans Saints, which was Washington’s second straight loss. Washington is 0-3 in divisional play, and it desperately needs a win over New York to keep its slim playoff hopes alive. The key to victory in this game for Washington is to play better defense. Washington surrendered 36 points per game over the past two games.

The Chiefs and Giants played one of the more sloppy games during the early slate of Week 11. It ended with the Giants coming out on top in a 12-9 game, earning their second victory of the season.

The game ended up going into overtime after a fourth quarter with turnovers, silly plays, and a clutch field goal in the final seconds. But it was Roger Lewis who will be remembered as the hero in this one after making one of the best catches of the season.

Here’s how we got there.

On a first down play from the Kansas City Chiefs’ 45-yard line with 4:53 left in the third quarter, Eli Manning dropped back to pass. Manning stood there ... and stood there ... and stood there some more, looking for an open receiver. There weren’t any, which wasn’t surprising without Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard and Brandon Marshall playing.

What was surprising, maybe even amazing, was that as Manning stood there no Kansas City pass rusher got anywhere close to him. Sure, it was a three-tight end, one wide receiver set and the Giants began the play with eight blockers to five Kansas City rushers. Meaning, only two receivers — Tavarres King and Evan Engram — were in the route.

The defense, given a chance to secure the win by stopping either of two Saints drives at the end of the 4th quarter, parted like the Red Sea, giving up two consecutive touchdown drives & a 2-point conversion to end the 4th quarter, then an easy drive to a field goal in overtime. They made Drew Brees look like Case Keenum!

The half would end with the continuation of two frustrating trends: the offense’s inability to earn points in the final two minutes of a half and the defense’s inability to stop their opponent from earning points in the final two minutes of a half. Though Cousins lucked out, getting the ball back after nearly having it picked off by De’Vante Harris, Washington couldn’t attempt a long field goal after a false start penalty on Stacy McGhee pushed them out of range.

New Orleans then put up several big plays, like a 22 yard pass to Ted Ginn, Jr., and a 24 yard pass to Michael Thomas, in the final 1:39 to bring themselves within field goal range, closing the gap to 17-13 as the teams headed into the locker rooms.

The Giants are playing with confidence, and that confidence should carry over against Washington. Washington’s defense isn’t playing well, and the Giants’ defense can stifle Washington’s explosive offense.

However, just one of our eight experts — Joel Thorman — believes the Giants can win. The other seven took Washington in their Week 12 picks.