Giants' Winston 'lets the dogs out' on 4th-down ploy; Commanders don't bite

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  Jordan RaananNov 13, 2026, 01:45 AM ET

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  Jordan Raanan covers the New York Giants for ESPN and can be heard hosting on ESPN Radio. Raanan joined ESPN in 2016.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Jameis Winston dipped into his bag of tricks and barked out an unlikely chant for a key situation in a 24-21 loss for the New York Giants on Thursday night against the Washington Commanders.

Winston went to the line of scrimmage on a critical fourth-down play late in the fourth quarter and yelled out the lyrics to "Who Let the Dogs Out?" the famous song by the Baha Men, which was also a signature chant for Knicks coach Mike Brown during his team's championship run in the spring.

"Who let the dogs out?" Winston screamed at the line of scrimmage. "Who! Who!"

The latter part was done emphatically in an attempt to force the Commanders to jump offsides -- they did not. The Giants took a 5-yard penalty and punted with 3:27 remaining.

"Trying to get them offsides," Winston said of the play.

This was something the Giants had practiced, not just a spur-of-the-moment tactic. They put time and effort into using the song's hook as their cadence.

It was their unique but unsuccessful attempt to draw a key penalty on Washington.

"Just practicing that with the team," Winston said of the unusual cadence. "The defenses are trying to jump the rhythm. Came up with that. Wish we could've got them to jump offsides."

It was Winston, known for his gregarious personality, who came up with the idea to use the song for the situation. How did he land on "Who Let the Dogs Out?" specifically?

"Just had a nice ring to it," he said.

It was fourth-and-1 from the Giants' own 11-yard line when coach John Harbaugh had his offense run back on the field in an attempt to make it look like they would go for the knockout punch. New York held a 21-17 lead at the time with just over three minutes remaining.

But Harbaugh wasn't seriously thinking about going for the first down so deep in his own territory.

"I thought maybe we could draw them offsides, get them to jump, you know," he said. "Took a shot at it. They didn't do it. Played with good discipline there."

Harbaugh said he was aware that the unpredictable and charismatic Winston was going with the "Who Let the Dogs Out" chorus in that instance.

"Yeah, I knew that," Harbaugh said. "That was part of the cadence there. That was part of the cadence. Teams do jump in those situations sometimes. That was the idea."

Quarterbacks have long used different words, phrases or songs for their cadences. Hall of Famer Peyton Manning famously used "Omaha." Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has long said, "Here we go!" at the line of scrimmage.

Winston just might need a little refresher course on "Who Let the Dogs Out?" He credited the Black Eyed Peas, not the Baha Men, as the song's artists.

Now, as a cadence on the football field, it will be credited to him.