Isaiah Simmons was added to the New York Giants’ field goal block team this week. This decision turned out to be crucial on Sunday as it helped secure a surprising win for the Giants.
Bryce Ford-Wheaton returned the kick that Simmons blocked for 60 yards, scoring a touchdown with just 55 seconds left in the game, leading to a 29-20 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
As Seattle prepared to tie the game, Simmons jumped over the gap between the guard and long snapper, successfully blocking the kick. The ball bounced right to Ford-Wheaton, who ran it in for a touchdown, sending the Giants’ fans home happy.
“I’m normally not on field goal block. So that was my first time, today,” Simmons said. “I said I was going to block a punt or a field goal today.”
The blocked kick capped off a nearly perfect game for the Giants. Even without two of their best offensive players, New York (2-3) had a strong game plan that gave them a 23-13 lead in the fourth quarter. The Giants then pulled off a key special teams play just as Seattle was trying to force overtime.
Special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial had set up this block earlier in the week. Dexter Lawrence II pushed down guard Laken Tomlinson, creating a path for Simmons to jump and block the kick.
Ford-Wheaton then did his part, grabbing the loose ball and running into open space.
“It just happened exactly how we installed it. We just knew (Simmons) is a freak athlete. He has the ability to do something like that and we trust him,” Ford-Wheaton said.
This conclusion was surprising, especially since Seattle seemed ready to come back and possibly hand the Giants another close loss. Geno Smith threw a 5-yard touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba with 2:09 left, finishing a 95-yard drive.
The Giants then couldn’t get a first down and punted back to Seattle, which saw Smith run 32 yards on the first play, moving the Seahawks (3-2) into field goal range.
However, the drive stalled, and Simmons made the critical blocked kick. “We talked about who would be a good candidate to do the jump and Isaiah came to mind, and he executed it perfectly,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said.
Daniel Jones led the Giants with a strong performance. Even though they were missing rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers and running back Devin Singletary, the Giants had a game plan that involved short passes and effective runs, allowing them to control the ball and keep Seattle’s offense off the field.
Jones completed 23 of 34 passes, throwing a 7-yard touchdown to Wan’Dale Robinson and a 30-yard touchdown to Darius Slayton early in the third quarter, which gave the Giants a 17-10 lead they maintained for the rest of the game.
Rookie Tyrone Tracy stepped up in Singletary’s absence, rushing for 129 yards, while Slayton caught eight passes for 122 yards.
The Giants amassed a total of 420 yards and held the ball for over 37 minutes.
“We’ve said since training camp how much we like our skill guys and how deep we think those positions are. And you saw a lot of guys step up today and make a lot of plays,” Jones said.
New York could have won by an even larger margin if Eric Gray hadn’t fumbled on the goal line, allowing Rayshawn Jenkins to return it 102 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. However, that was the only bright spot for the Seahawks on a frustrating day.
Geno Smith was 28 of 40 for 284 yards and added 72 rushing yards, but Seattle’s running game struggled. Smith was sacked seven times, with three of those by Dexter Lawrence.
After losing to Detroit on Monday night and facing a short week, the Seahawks were outplayed and seemed slow throughout the game. They committed sloppy penalties, tackled poorly, and didn’t protect Smith well.
With a Thursday night divisional game against San Francisco coming up, there’s little time to make improvements.
“We played bad. That’s the reality,” Smith said. “I don’t think we executed well. I thought we came out slow. Talked about starting fast, that’s not how we want to start, and then turned the ball over, not finishing drives. All of the above get you beat in the NFL.”
