Isaiah Likely hits career high in Giants loss to Commanders

The night ended badly for New York, but the 4th quarter belonged to Likely for a while, and it started with J.J. McCarthy taking a hit in the pocket.

Mike Garafolo

@MikeGarafolo

JJ McCarthy with pressure right in his face to Isaiah Likely for the go-ahead TD. Wow.

That one put the Giants up 21-17 with 8:13 left. McCarthy said the hell with the blitz and stood in, and Likely did the rest after the catch, turning a quick strike into a 66-yarder. It was the longest touchdown pass of McCarthy's career. He finished 23 of 36 for a career-high 293 yards. Not a bad Thursday for the QB either, until it was.

Here's the bad part. Jayden Daniels went 71 yards in 49 seconds, found Stefon Diggs for a 32-yard touchdown, and then Rasul Douglas picked McCarthy off with 25 seconds left. Washington won 24-21. The Giants fell to 5-3-1, and the Commanders, now 3-5-1, are 2 games back and own the head-to-head tiebreaker. So the NFC East is not over.

None of that changes what Likely is doing. Before the long touchdown was even official in everybody's notes, the stat guys were already pointing out that his season had blown past anything he did in Baltimore.

Field Yates

@FieldYates

Isaiah Likely has already reached career-highs in catches, yards and receiving TDs in just 9 games played with the Giants. An outstanding signing by the G-Men and a breakout season.

Remember what this was in March. The Giants gave Likely a 3-year, $40 million deal, worth up to $47.5 million with $20.5 million fully guaranteed, and it reunited him with John Harbaugh, who coached him for 4 seasons with the Ravens. In Baltimore he spent most of those years as the No. 2 tight end behind Mark Andrews. People wondered whether $40 million was a lot for a guy who had never been the top tight end. Nine games in, nobody is asking anymore.

He's also been a problem for Washington specifically. In the Week 5 meeting he had 11 catches for 94 yards and 2 touchdowns. Last week against Philly he added 5 for 53 and another score. On Thursday he led the Giants in catches and yards again, on 11 targets.

Jordan Raanan

@JordanRaanan

Isaiah Likely another huge game with nine catches for 127 yards and a TD. He's already set a new career high with 575 yards receiving. There are eight games remaining in the season.

Do the math on 575 yards through 9 games with 8 to go. If he even comes close to this pace, he's in the conversation with the best tight ends in football, and the Giants found him in free agency. The loss stings and the division race just got tighter, but Big Blue has a real No. 1 option at tight end, and McCarthy clearly trusts him with the ball when he's under pressure.