New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston. Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Giants' trick-play TD continues impressive opening-drive success

By Conor Killmurray | Last updated Nov 23, 2025 2:21 PM ET

On Sunday, the New York Giants continued one of their few positive trends of the 2025 season in style.

On the opening drive of their matchup against the Detroit Lions, interim head coach Mike Kafka went deep into his bag of tricks to dial up the Giants' sixth opening-drive touchdown of the 2025 season. Per the broadcast, that number matches the total number of opening-drive touchdowns the Giants scored in the past four seasons combined.

On 3rd-and-2, Kafka called a double pass trick play where Giants quarterback Jameis Winston first tossed the ball to running back Devin Singletary. With the toss play being sold, Singletary stopped and threw a backward pass to Winston, who then launched a 39-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Wan'Dale Robinson.

Essentially, it was a more intricate flea flicker that confused the Lions defense and allowed the Giants to find some early momentum. Winston also showed off his athleticism by narrowly evading a drive-killing sack while keeping his eyes downfield to spot Robinson.

DOUBLE PASS TD. JAMEIS TO WANDALE.

NYGvsDET on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Wsxp1H7vpH
— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025

Giants can score early, but fail to finish games

Of course, the 2-9 Giants need every advantage they can get if they want to salvage something respectable from this season, so a trick play so early isn't so surprising. Still, the Giants have been surprisingly good on their opening drives this season, especially after they made the switch to rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, who scored in the opening drive of his first three starts.

Heading into Week 12, the Giants scored 29 total touchdowns, which is the ninth most in the NFL. With that much production, someone would think the Giants would at least be in the playoff hunt, but Big Blue's inability to finish games has been a key to its downfall.

While the team has proved it can compete early, it fails to sustain momentum and is 0-4 when leading in the fourth quarter. The team's defense has also allowed 35 touchdowns this season, the second most in the league.

If scoring on the opening drive of games was all that was needed to get a win, then the Giants would actually have a winning record. Still, it's at least more entertaining than the past lost seasons of New York football.

Conor Killmurray

Conor Killmurray is a long-suffering fan of New York sports, particularly the Giants and Mets—a potent combination for heartbreak, if you ask him. He graduated from West Chester University with a degree in English and enjoys searching for the most interesting sports stories to write about.

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