Jameis Winston Sings 'Who Let the Dogs Out' in Failed Hard Count as Giants Lose

Jameis Winston tried to draw the Washington Commanders offsides on Thursday night by singing the Baha Men at them, and it did not work. With the Giants leading 21-17 and 3:41 left, the backup quarterback lined up on fourth-and-1 at his own 11 and broke into “Who Let the Dogs Out” in his hard count. Nobody jumped. The Giants took a delay of game, punted, and Washington drove for Stefon Diggs’ 32-yard touchdown with 57 seconds left to win 24-21.

What did Winston actually say at the line?

He went all the way back to the year 2000. “Ready, get set, hut one, hut two, hut three!” he shouted, the New York Post reports, before breaking out the classic: “Who let the dogs out? Who, who, who?” NBC Sports has the cadence with one more who on the end: “Hut One. Hut Two. Hut Three. Who let the dogs out? Who, who, who, who?” The ploy did not work, and the play clock ran out on the Giants, who were forced to punt with 3:27 left. The attempt did, however, get laughs out of the Prime Video booth, where Al Michaels said “You gotta be kidding” with an audible chuckle and Kirk Herbstreit said “What is he doing?” through a laugh.

Why was the backup quarterback in the game?

Because short yardage is his job. Winston is the Giants’ backup behind J.J. McCarthy, and head coach John Harbaugh uses him for the quarterback sneaks, Sporting News reports. He had already converted a fourth-and-1 sneak earlier in the game with a dive to the left side, and he came in again on first and goal after a defensive pass interference call in the end zone. Harbaugh has kept using Winston’s size in the offense despite McCarthy taking over the starting job, and on a fourth-and-1 with the game on the line, the backup was the man under center. The hard count was the gamble: five free yards if a defender jumped, nothing lost if nobody did, except the play clock.

What happened after the hard count failed?

The worst version of the gamble. The Giants punted, and Washington needed only three plays to go 71 yards, NBC Sports reports, helped by a questionable 33-yard pass interference penalty on Deonte Banks, who was covering Treylon Burks. Three plays later, Jayden Daniels threw a 32-yard touchdown to Stefon Diggs with 57 seconds left, and the Commanders took a 24-21 lead they would not give back. The two teams have a recent history of strange finishes, and the Commanders let the clock run out in overtime against the Giants in October rather than kick. This one was stranger: the Giants lost the game on a punt they took because their quarterback was singing.

How did the Giants get into that spot in the first place?

They had the game won twice and could not close it. The Giants took a 21-17 lead with 8:13 left on Isaiah Likely’s 66-yard catch-and-run, NBC Sports reports, and then intercepted Daniels twice: Jevon Holland took the ball away at the 2-yard line with 5:27 left, and Ar’Darius Washington stepped in front of a pass on fourth-and-2 with 2:15 left. But the Giants could not run out the clock, and the failed hard count gave Daniels the ball back with 3:27 to play. The two teams traded the lead four times in the second half, and the last trade was the one that counted. Cam Ward laughed off his own viral moment from a Titans press conference earlier this season, and the Winston clip belongs in the same file: a quarterback turning a routine moment into the night’s talking point.

What were the key numbers from the game?

Daniels was 23-of-33 for 249 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, NBC Sports reports, and Diggs caught six passes for 83 yards. McCarthy was 23-of-36 for 293 yards with a touchdown and an interception, Cam Skattebo had 18 carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns, and Likely had nine receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown. The Giants outgained Washington 399 yards to 340 but missed a field goal and turned the ball over twice. Diggs has been at the centre of a viral moment of his own this season, when Mike Evans checked the name on his jersey before arguing with him, and Thursday night gave him a better one: the catch that won the game.

What happens next for both teams?

Washington owns the NFC East tiebreaker now, and the division is wide open. The Giants remain atop the standings at 5-3-1 despite the loss, with Washington at 3-5-1, and the Commanders will try to build on a win that looked lost with three minutes to play. For Winston, the clip will outlive the loss: the NFL posted the video itself, and Sporting News notes it adds to his history of viral moments. The question for Harbaugh is whether the backup keeps the short-yardage job after a hard count that cost his team the game, or whether the next fourth-and-1 goes back to the starter. The NFC East has been the league’s strangest division all season, and Dak Prescott confronted a tunnel worker who called the Cowboys embarrassing after their own loss this month. Thursday night added a singing quarterback to the list.