NorthJersey.com's Art Stapleton discusses the New York Giants' first win against The Washington Football team on Sunday. NorthJersey.com

EAST RUTHERFORD - The Giants needed someone on defense to make a play.

Twice.

And both times, unlike in the first five games of the season,they found a way to finish off the Washington Football Team for the first victory of the Joe Judge era Sunday, 20-19.

Tae Crowder, the last pick in the 2020 NFL Draft took care of the first one when he picked up a fumble and raced 43 yards for a decisive touchdown with 3:29 left.

Then Dexter Lawrence, one of their first-round picks last year, and Blake Martinez, one of this offseason's big free agent signings, managed to combine to smother Washington quarterback Kyle Allen as he rolled out looking for an open receiver on a potential game-winning two-point conversion with 36 seconds remaining.

"It was special, it's not like we won a playoff [game], we still have a lot of work to do, no bragging rights or anything like that," Giants defensive linemanLeonard Williams said. "But it was definitely - we've been working really hard through camp, we've been working really hard through the beginning of the season, and we finally got that win under our belt, it was nice to see guys smiling in the locker room after putting in that much hard work. We kinda got tired of going into the locker room and seeing sad faces."

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Those sad faces may have emerged if not for those two plays that keyed the Giant escape:

The Giants were on the ropes, and it was obvious. All the Washington Football Team needed was a field goal, and the collapse from up 13-3 late in the first half would have been complete.

But on third-and-6 near midfield, Kyler Fackrell beat Washington left tackle Geron Christian and sacked Allen, who inexplicably spun and lost the football in the process of going down to the turf. The ball bounced at the feet of Crowder, whose contributions as a rookie have belied the nickname of Mr. Irrelevant he earned with the selection as the last pick in the draft.

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Crowder bobbled his first attempt at scooping up the ball, but actually helped his second try by creating a bit of a bounce off the turf. Once the linebacker from Georgia secured the handle, he sprinted toward the end zone with Washington wide receiver Terry McLaurin chasing from behind.

Cam Brown, another rookie, knocked McLaurin off line just slightly with a block, creating enough separation for Crowder to go untouched into the end zone.

James Bradberry was clearly being tongue-in-cheek when he said after the game he would take the 6-foot-4, 342-pound Dexter Lawrence in a footrace against most quarterbacks in the league.

The Giants had reason to smile, though, and Lawrence did force Allen to hesitate as he hustled to try and take an angle that cut off a path to the end zone.

The defensive play called by Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was one they installed Friday, went over Saturday and decided to use in the biggest moment Sunday.

When Allen rolled out, both Lawrence and Martinez tracked him. It looked as though Allen had enough room to try and run to the goal line for the victory, but Lawrence tracked him well enough to prevent that. Jabrill Peppers was also in coverage near the goal line, and because of the hesitation, the Giants' safety would have likely been there to make a run at Allen as well.

Lawrence decked Allen to force the incomplete, andPeppers completed the stand with a pair of back flips in celebration.

Art Stapleton is the Giants beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Giants analysis, news, trades and more, pleasesubscribe todayand sign up for our NFC East newsletter.

Email:stapleton@northjersey.com

Twitter:@art_stapleton

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Anatomy of an escape for the win: NY Giants survive with defensive touchdown, 2-point stop - NorthJersey.com