Football fans have seen plenty of hard counts. They had never seen one set to a 2000 party anthem.

Late in Thursday night’s game between the New York Giants and Washington Commanders, quarterback Jameis Winston walked up to the line on a fourth-and-1 and started barking out a cadence borrowed from Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out.” The internet did the rest.

The setup

According to Touchdown Wire, the Giants were leading by four points and facing fourth-and-1 with just over three minutes left. Earlier in the night, Winston had come in to convert a crucial fourth-down quarterback sneak, so his arrival on the field looked like a real threat.

It wasn’t. The Giants had no plans to snap the ball. The goal was to draw the Commanders offside and pick up a free first down. So Winston went for it, delivering his hard count in the rhythm of the Baha Men hit, something Touchdown Wire says it had “never seen in an NFL game.”

Why it went viral

It’s the kind of moment that is perfect for social media: a short clip, a song everybody knows and a player with a personality to match. Winston has a history of entertaining moments, and Touchdown Wire pointed back to his memorable plea for an opposing defense to jump offside during his time with the Browns.

Clips spread quickly across social media on Thursday night and Friday morning, and Touchdown Wire rounded up some of the best fan reactions.

The Skattebo stare

Winston wasn’t the only Giants player feeding the meme machine. Running back Cam Skattebo delivered a camera staredown during the Thursday Night Football broadcast that, as For The Win put it, “instantly created the best memes.”

Skattebo also had a big night on the field. According to Giants.com, he ran 18 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns in his return from a hamstring injury and added three catches for 44 yards. The team says he now has the most rushing touchdowns, five, in a player’s first two Thursday Night Football games in the Super Bowl era.

How the game actually ended

Here’s the part Giants fans would rather forget. The Commanders didn’t bite on Winston’s cadence. New York had to give the ball back, and Washington drove down the field and scored.

Stefon Diggs caught a 32-yard go-ahead touchdown with 57 seconds left, according to Giants.com, and Washington won 24-21 at MetLife Stadium. The Giants had one more chance, but J.J. McCarthy’s desperation pass intended for Malik Nabers was intercepted.

It was a frustrating finish for New York, especially because McCarthy had one of his best games, setting career highs with 23 completions and 293 passing yards. Tight end Isaiah Likely had put the Giants ahead with a 66-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a missed opportunity,” coach John Harbaugh said. “But like I told the guys, it would have been great to win the game, but it doesn’t change our goals or our opportunity going forward.”

Still on top

Despite the loss, the Giants still lead the NFC East at 5-3-1, while Washington improved to 3-5-1. New York hosts the Jacksonville Jaguars next, in a game the NFL flexed to a 4:25 p.m. kickoff.

The bottom line

The hard count didn’t work, and the Giants didn’t win. But for a few seconds on a Thursday night, Jameis Winston turned a routine fourth-down decoy into the most replayed moment of the week. Fans will probably remember that cadence long after they forget the box score.

What song should the next hard count use? Let us know.

Image: Football field night via Rawpixel, CC0 1.0