Giants Edge WFT: The Rivera Reaction

LANDOVER, Md. - The Washington Football Team still has a long way to go. We knew that before a gut-punch loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.

The final score was 23-20. The lowly Giants now have two wins on the year, both over Rivera and the WFT, by a combined total of four points.

Five turnovers on offense led to 10 points for New York and Washington is now (2-6) and rummaging around near the cellar of the NFC East, which is not a place you want to be.... more "lowly'' than even the "lowly.''

Washington started off terribly, settled down to a degree in the middle part of the game, made a good comeback and then got knocked out with a couple of overhead rights from the Giants defense, in the form of two interceptions in the final couple of minutes.

"The first half I was pessimistic and disappointed," Rivera said. "The second half, I was very pleased. We only gave up three points. We held them. We scored, we gave ourselves a chance."

READ MORE: 'Identity' of WFT Revealed?

"As I told the players,'' Rivera said, "We'll learn from this. First, we'll learn that you can't spot teams 20 points in a half and expect to give yourself a fair chance to win. But the way that (we) came back and played in the second half was indicative of who this football team can be, in my opinion."

It's probably a good thing that Rivera said 'can be' at the end, because they aren't anything really yet. They showed a bit of resiliency before the knockout blow but close isn't good enough.

Two close losses to the Giants, a team that it now much be admitted might be better than their record, now 2-7, isn't a reason to dig for positives.

Also worth noting as a wasted chance: Washington had fans in attendance (around 3,200) for the first time all season. The WFT gave them a thrill ride after halftime but sent them home disappointed and unfulfilled. ...and lost the opportunity to be buoyed by their support.

Said Rivera: "I noticed the fans. It was nice. I get it, sometimes when things aren't going well people are going say some things, but that's why they pay for it, the opportunity to state their opinion. It was good to have people in the stands. It's nice to know that they're there, win or lose."

First halves of games have not been kind to Washington this year, outside of the win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Why? It's a puzzler. Even in one of their two wins (against Philadelphia) they were largely awful before halftime. Here, they had three turnovers and were down 20-3 at the break ... plus lost another quarterback to a tough injury that figures to keep Kyle Allen out for several weeks, if not the rest of the season.

Not much went right overall for Washington, the lone exception being the receivers. Cam Sims easily set a career high with 110 yards receiving on three catches. And Terry McLaurin was even better with 115 yards receiving on seven catches and a 68-yard contested grab score.

Said Rivera: "I'm pretty optimistic about it. I hope we can continue to watch these guys grow. I'm very pleased with what we got from Cam Sims today. Obviously, Terry has been Terry and has continued to be a good player for us."

Alas, if only the rest of the club was worthy of the same level of praise as Rivera's receivers.

Add us as a preferred source on Google