The New York Giants came into Week 17 with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, on a 10-game losing streak, and sitting as the lowest-scoring team in the league. They somehow pulled out one of the best quarterback performances of the season and put up the ninth-most points in a game this year, defeating the Indianapolis Colts, 45-33.
They came out of the week dropping to the No. 4 pick after a thrilling performance and a tight battle with the Colts, whose defense failed to stop Giants quarterback Drew Lock. The Giants improved to 3-13 and the Colts fell to 7-9 with one game remaining on the schedule.
Lock, who was 0-3 as a starter this season heading into the matchup, finished with a 73.9 completion percentage, 314 yards, four passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdowns, no interceptions and no sacks. It marked the first five-touchdown game by a Giants quarterback since Daniel Jones did it on Dec. 22, 2019.
The former second rounder had the second-most passing touchdowns by any quarterback this week (heading into Monday night) and had the highest passer rating (min. 10 attempts) at 155.3. The Colts didn’t have an answer for rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers either, who hit 1,000 yards receiving with his 171 yard, two touchdown performance.
For a team that came in not scoring more than 20 points in the last six weeks, the Colts defense should’ve had an easier time shutting them down, and their players know it. Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner didn’t hold back when giving his thoughts on his team’s performance Sunday and their season as a whole.
“We came up short. I’m going to be honest, as [an] entire team, we shit the bed,” Buckner said, via 107.5 The Fan. “Another year and it’s frustrating. You know what I mean? Because like I’ve been saying, I can see what we have. It’s just, we’re not getting over that hump. We’re not — you know what I mean? I just feel like it’s really details that we’re missing that’s hurting us.”
The veteran complimented his teammates efforts, emphasizing how frustrating it is that they won’t have a winning season this year.
“I know the type of guys we have in our locker room,” he said. “We have a lot of guys in that locker room that care — a lot, tremendously about this team and this organization, this city. We want to put a product out there the city’s proud of. And for it to not go the way you want it to go, it’s frustrating.”
Buckner joined the Colts in 2020 from the San Francisco 49ers.
