Jameis Winston tries 'Who Let the Dogs Out?' hard count – nobody falls for it
New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston tried to trick the Washington Commanders into jumping offside by singing 'Who Let the Dogs Out?' at the line. They didn't move a muscle. The Giants lost.
In American football, a quarterback’s “hard count” is a bit of theatre: shout the signals in a funny rhythm, and with luck an over-eager defender twitches early, jumps offside and hands you a free five yards. On Thursday night, New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston took the theatre a bit further. He sang “Who Let the Dogs Out?” at them.
It happened against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, on 12 November, with about three and a half minutes left. The Giants led 21-17 and faced fourth-and-1 on their own 11-yard line, which is roughly the worst place on the pitch to take a gamble. Winston, the backup who comes on for short-yardage sneaks, lined up and started barking.
“Ready, get set, hut one, hut two, hut three,” he called, according to the New York Post. “Who let the dogs out? Who, who, who?”
AI illustration – the dogs came out. The defence didn’t. Not the actual event.
Washington’s defenders did not so much as flinch. The Giants were given a delay-of-game penalty instead, which pushed them back to fourth-and-5, and they punted. On the TV commentary, Al Michaels managed “You gotta be kidding,” while his co-commentator Kirk Herbstreit laughed: “What is he doing?”
It got worse from there for the Giants. They did win the ball back with an interception a few plays later, but went three-and-out, and the Commanders drove down for the winning touchdown. Final score: Commanders 24, Giants 21.
Just over an hour after the final whistle, Washington’s official X account posted locker-room photos with the caption “WHO LET THE DOGS OUT”. Ouch.
AI illustration – the Giants’ new playbook (probably not). Not the actual event. Can you spot Gaz? #WheresGaz
Asked about it afterwards, Winston didn’t offer a grand tactical theory. He called it a “good song, back in the early 2000s” and said “it just had a nice ring to it”, according to the Post. He also credited it to the Black Eyed Peas. It’s by the Baha Men (2000). Head coach John Harbaugh insisted it was part of the plan: “Teams do jump in that situation sometimes. So that was the idea.”
To be fair to Winston, he’s built a career on being entertaining, and the NFL’s own account shared the clip with the line “If you listen to nothing else today, at least listen to Jameis Winston’s hard count here.” It just didn’t work on the people it was aimed at. As Harbaugh put it, the team has “seven dogfights” left this season. Who, who, who knows how those will go.
Sources: USA Today · New York Post · Sporting News · ESPN
Image credits: Top photo: Sebas, “Interior view of the MetLife Stadium – ARG v CAN – 2024-07-09”, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (representative, not the event). Illustrations: Gorilla Gazette / AI-generated, not real photos.
