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Giants (1-7) Washington (2-5)
Washington was on a bye last week. In the game
before that, they played the Dallas Cowboys and came away with an impressive 25-3
win.
On Monday, the Giants had a chance to take down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
They were ahead 14-9 in the third quarter, but couldn't hold on and took a 25-23
loss. Washington Football
Team
Usually
when teams forgo the almost guaranteed extra point kick after scoring a touchdown,
and instead try a two point conversion, it's to catch up in scoring or to distance
themselves by 3 or 7 points. The last time the Giants played Washington, head
coach Ron Rivera tried it to go for the win instead of tying the game for overtime.
Because it didn't work, it gave the Giants their only win of the season. Had Rivera's
decision (gamble) paid off, the team wouldn't currently be a game and a half out
of first place.
Washington would be a half game out, and would now have a
3-0 record against all the other teams in the division. After that matchup with
the Giants, Washington went on to beat the Cowboys, and then had a bye. There
had been speculation during that time that the team might try to trade Dwayne
Haskins before the NFL trade deadline this week, but he remains as the team's
third string quarterback. Kyle Allen is the starting quarterback, and Alex Smith
is next on the roster. Washington
Offense
After being inured in his first start with Washington against the Rams, he started
and played the full game against the Giants the following week. Allen turned the
ball over twice, but engineered a good drive that ended with a touchdown, and
a chance to tie the game as we have mentioned. It might have been too much to
ask of Allen at that point to complete a pass into the endzone for the two points
they were hoping to get. A week later Allen was steadier, and threw two touchdowns
with no turnovers against the Cowboys.
Allen looks to be the answer for Washington
right now, and he will be glad to have Steven Sims Jr. back for this game, just
activated off the injured reserve list. Sims had been targeted 8 times, and had
6 receptions for 103 yards before his injury, and before Allen was the quarterback.
Allen has a total QBR of 69.9, which is 17th in the NFL over his three starts,
and Dwayne Haskins had a 31.4 rating, which ranked last. On another note, Washington
really got their ground game going last game. Antonio Gibson ran all over the
Cowboys and had 128 of their total 208 rushing yards.
Washington
Defense
They have allowed the fewest passing
yards per game (185.9), and they're 4th in total defense allowing 309.1 yards
a game. Their rushing defense was next to last a year ago, and now they are ranked
17th. In their last game, Dallas was held to
just 142 total yards, including only 59 net passing yards. They have been bringing
it. Washington ranks 6th in the league with 22 sacks. Montez Sweat leads the team
with 5 sacks, and has the most quarterback pressures. Ryan Kerrigan is second
in sacks with 4, and rookie Chase Young has 2.5 sacks.
Last time they held
Daniel Jones to just 112 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception, and they
sacked him once. Cornerback Kendall Fuller leads the NFL with four interceptions,
which includes the one he picked off Jones in that game. Washington has been allowing
an average of 123.3 rushing yards per game. In that earlier game, Jones rushed
for 74 yards on 7 carries, and Devonta Freeman had 18 carries for 61 yards. Former
Giants safety Landon Collins was in that game, but he tore his Achilles tendon
against Dallas and is out for the season. Giants
Offense
The focus will all be on Daniel
Jones this week. It can't be on Golden Tate even if he wanted it to be, because
he didn't travel with the team to Washington. Tate drew more attention than he
should have , with some outbursts during the game Monday night that he wasn't
being thrown to enough. Head coach Joe Judge decided that Tate should sit this
game out. He certainly doesn't need Jones to be fixated on getting the ball to
any one player. Jones needs a clear head to concentrate on his own turnover faults
that he doesn't seem to be able to correct. He hurt the team on Monday with two
costly second half interceptions that led to 10 points.
Tate's benching is
a bit of a break for Washington who concentrated on him the first time out, holding
Tate to just one catch. Instead, they'll be on Sterling Shepard, who didn't play
in that game. Jones has targeted Shepard 18 times in the last two games, and he
has 14 receptions. Jones also relies heavily on Darius Slayton, who has 32 catches
for 485 yards and 3 touchdowns. The offensive line keeps improving and that helps
the running game, which totaled 101 yards against the top rushing defense in the
league. Wayne Gallman had 12 carries for 44 yards, and 1 touchdown. Alfred Morris,
in his first game with the Giants, had 8 carries for 28 yards.
Devonta Freeman was out for that game and will miss this one as well. Giants
Defense
They played one of their best games
last week against Tampa Bay. They kept them out of the end zone in the first half,
forcing them to settle for two field goals. No other team had kept Tampa Bay touchdowns
off the score board in the first half this season. On the two drives in the second
half where Tom Brady did score touchdowns, he started off on the 33 and 34 yard
lines thanks to a good punt return, and an interception.
Those drives also
included penalties on the plays right before each of Brady's touchdowns, giving
him first downs, one from the Giants 3-yard line, and then the 8-yard line. The
Giants need to improve in this area, though some of the calls in that game were
questionable. This defense is currently ranked 13th in yards allowed, and 15th
in points allowed. They saw Washington run 39 times for 208 yards in the last
game they played, where before that, they were averaging just 82.2. The Giants
defense will have to figure out what changed in that one game Washington played
since their last meeting with them. Overall
The Giants and Washington play in the worst
division in the NFL, These two teams have a total of 3 wins that come from beating
each other or the other teams in the same division. If Washington wins this game,
they will have beaten the Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants. If the Giants win, they
will have beaten Washington twice. Either way they will have a combined total
of 4 wins and 14 losses.
Somehow both teams are still in the race to win the
NFC East title. That's because the Eagles and Cowboys total up to a 5-10-1 record.
Things won't change much this week. The Eagles are on a bye, and the Cowboys will
travel to Pittsburgh to play the 7-0 Steelers, the only undefeated team in the
NFL. The Giants have come real close to winning in their last two games. They
only have one win, and it was against Washington. Why wouldn't they do that again
this week as well? NFC East
Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Giants (1-7) at
Washington (2-5).
Sunday at 4:25pm Steelers (7-0) at Cowboys (2-6).
The
Washington Football Team is the only NFC East team favored to win in these games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Notes.
Giants
have won their last four games against Washington. Giants
have rushed for more than 100 yards in three consecutive games, Giants
last 4 games have been decided by 3 points or less, including their 1 point win
over Washington.
Next Games
Nov 15 Philadelphia at Giants
Nov
29 Giants at Cincinnati |
