The Giants.com crew members break down the Thursday night loss to the Commanders and what it means for the team moving forward.

John Schmeelk: The Giants suffered their most disappointing loss of the season on Thursday night, falling late to the Commanders, 24-21. A lot of people will focus on J.J. McCarthy's game-ending interception and whether he should have gone somewhere else with the football, but it shouldn't overshadow that fact he played another excellent football game.

The high level throws were on display again. The 66-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Likely was put into a small window between two linebackers with pinpoint accuracy and high-velocity right in the middle of the defense. The sail route to Malachi Fields that set up the Giants' first touchdown of the second half was perfectly placed over the flat defender and in front of the cloud defender over the top.

On the next drive, he completed a perfectly thrown stutter-go to Malik Nabers for 37 yards before converting a 2nd and 7 on a well-thrown crossing route to Fields over the middle of the field. McCarthy had made most of his big plays to the sideline up until this game, but did real damage on inward-breaking routes against the Commanders.

The most impressive part of McCarthy's performance was how well he did against the blitz, which is something he struggled with last year with the Vikings. According to NextGen stats, when the Commanders blitzed, McCarthy completed 8 of 14 passes for 155 yards and averaged 11.1 yards per attempt. He was only sacked once when blitzed. He made quick decisions and often got the ball out to wide open receivers for short to intermediate gains over the middle of the field. He showed poise in those situation for most of the game.

If McCarthy continues to play like this and improve as he gets more comfortable in the Giants' system, the team should be in excellent position to win the NFC East.

Dan Salomone: They remember what you do in December, but you first need to take care of November. The Giants spent their bye week preparing for two divisional games in five days, a pivotal stretch they knew would largely shape the NFC East in the second half of the season.

They took care of business in Philadelphia, a place they had not won since 2013, but did not deliver the one-two punch on Thursday night. Instead, the Commanders got off the mat. The Cowboys can do the same on Sunday with a victory over the 49ers, which would move them to even with the Giants in the win column.

Now, the Giants will move up a weight class. They are set to face two current divisional leaders, the Jaguars and 49ers, in the next three weeks, followed by a trip to the home of the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks. The Giants won't see another NFC East foe until the final two games of the season.

"So it's going to be seven dogfights," coach John Harbaugh said. "That's what it's going to be. It's the National Football League. I'd like to say we're going to win all seven of them. But it's probably not very likely. You're probably not going to be putting any money down on that. So we've got to win enough. And this was one that got away. We've got to find a way to get the next one. And the next one after that. And the next one after that. And get as many as we need to win the division. That's what we've got to find a way to do. So just try to keep it in perspective is very important."

Matt Citak: For the first time all season, the Giants were unable to come up with the big plays at the end of the game in order to close out a victory. It was the first game in which the team lost while holding a lead in the fourth quarter, despite the defense coming up with two big interceptions with just a few minutes remaining. The offense was unable to pick up a first down following both takeaways, though, which led to the ball going right back to the Commanders. Jayden Daniels then led Washington on a three-play, 71-yard drive, which included a 33-yard defensive pass interference penalty, and found the end zone in just 49 seconds to hand the Giants their first NFC East loss.

"As an offense, we want to be the ones that finish the game and we put them in a bad spot a couple times," J.J. McCarthy told the media after the game. "We just gotta be better, but it's gonna come down to the wire in a lot of games, the rest of November, going into December and January. This is something that, it would be foolish to not take advantage of, learn from this, and continue to grow and stick together as a unit."

The loss brings the Giants' record in the division to 2-1-1, although the Commanders now hold the tiebreaker in the head-to-head between the two teams. Nevertheless, the Giants still sit in first place in the division with control of their own destiny. While the remaining schedule does feature some tough opponents, Harbaugh's squad is going to continue to come out swinging each and every week.

"It's just disappointing," Harbaugh added. "We worked hard for this, and we put a hard week in. And we were prepared. The guys came out with, I thought, tremendous energy. We played very hard. Plays were made. Plays were missed. But it wasn't good enough to win the game. And that's the disappointment of it. So it's disappointing, but you can't let it bring you down. That's why I said what I said about our spirit. Our spirit's going to be fine. We're going to be good. We're not going to curl up. We're going to come out fighting."