Giants win over Washington 20-12

"The Giants didn't look good on their first two possessions, and Washington had used up most of the first quarter on their two turns. They were controlling the ball, and had one field goal to show for it. The Giants defense decided they had enough of this, and after the Giants punted, a few plays into the second quarter, Kayvon Thibodeaux knocked the ball out of Taylor Heinicke's hand, recovered it, and scored a touchdown.
The lifeless Giants were suddenly up 7-3. The defense was right back there on the field, and this time the Commanders got midfield before they punted. The Giants offense had made less than ten plays up to this point, and I didn't have much hope that they would go far starting off from their own 3-yard line. Well, they decided to flex their muscles as well.
Daniel Jones got the team down to the Washington 35-yard line, and the Giants went for it on a 4th-and-9. Jones hit Richie James for 11 yards, and then Isaiah Hodgins took the next pass 19 yards down to the Washington 5-yard line. Jones ran for 2 yards, and Saquon Barkley took a direct snap and rushed the ball into the endzone for a touchdown.
It was an impressive drive that lasted over eight and a half minutes, past the two minute warning. The Commanders didn't go far on their next drive and after they punted the Giants took a knee. I knew it was going to be a tough game, and it was encouraging to see the Giants up 14-3 at the half.
The Giants didn't look as impressive starting off the third quarter, and that went for the defense as well, letting the Commanders drive 91 yards for a touchdown, making one first down after another. Every play was a big one except for the extra point kick and now the score was 14-9. The Giants offense got back on track and their drive ended with a 50 yard Graham Gano field goal.
It was still a one score game, and Washington moved closer when they later added a field goal. Their next drive was set to put them ahead when they got down to the Giants 5-yard line, but Heinicke was sacked by Dexter Lawrence and Azeez Ojulari, and Leonard Williams recovered the football. The Giants offense came in and stayed on the move, using time until the two minute warning when Gano came in and kicked a 50 yard field goal.
The Giants were up by eight points, and Washington came up with a good punt return. They soon had a third down at the Giants 1-yard line, and ran the ball in for a touchdown, but wait! It was called back. Washington had drawn an illegal formation penalty. Then on fourth down, Heinicke's six yard pass to the endzone was broken up by cornerback Darnay Holmes. The Giants needed to kneel down twice to wrap up the game. This big 20-12 win puts the Giants up over the Commanders in the division, and that goes a long way in improving their chances to make it into the playoffs."

"The Washington fans probably liked the way things were going at the start of this game. The Commanders were moving the ball well, and their defense twice had the Giants off the field fairly fast. The Commanders were up 3-0 on their third possession, when rookie linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux had a one yard fumble recovery touchdown after he stripped the ball out of quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s hand.
The Giants then stopped the Commanders next efforts, and mounted an 18 play 93 yard drive that ended with a three yard touchdown run by Saquon Barkley. They made seven first downs including one pass on a fourth down to Richie James, on what may have been their longest drive of the season. When the half ended, the Giants were up 14-3.
If you look at the numbers, the Commanders running backs, Brian Robinson Jr. and Antonio Gibson had averaged 6.8 and 5 yards a carry on the 12 times they'd run with the ball for a total of 74 yards. Barkley had just 13 yards on 7 carries, but 2 went for first downs, and another was a touchdown. Barkley also caught all 3 passes Jones tossed to him, and one was a first down.
Jones had thrown for 104 yards, missing on only 4 of his 16 passes, and was averaging 6.5 yards a pass. Heinicke had completed 7 of his 13 passes for 43 yards, and had taken 2 sacks.
Washington knew they would have to stop Darius Slayton, and he was 0-2 on the passes Jones threw to him on the Giants first drive, and no more went his way. Isaiah Hodgins and Richie James did all the damage, combining for 7 catches on seven passes, and they became Washington's main focus in the second half. Hodgins had no more catches and James just one. The Giants adjusted as well, and Slayton caught the next 5 passes that came his way.
Barkley was able to break through more, and 11 carries totaled 74 yards, giving him a 4.8 average on the day. Washington kept it close, scoring a touchdown on their first drive of the second half, but later in the fourth quarter, a sack fumble on Heinicke at the Giants 5-yard line killed their drive. Head Coach Brian Daboll had to throw the challenge flag to make the refs realize the ball was fumbled.
The Commanders had made two costly turnovers and then near the end of the game, had a touchdown run from the Giants 1-yard line called back because of the way one of their receivers had lined up. The Giants hung on in this one, and finished with a 20-12 win. The Giants edged up a notch on the Commanders, but they're still not there yet. We'll see where their playoff chances end up next Saturday when they travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings."

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