Giants win over Washington 14-7

"I was looking forward to the Giants turning things around today at MetLife Stadium. It wasn't encouraging to see them start off with a 3-and-out with a 1 yard loss. The defense looked like they were ready to go though. When the Commanders took over, the Giants put a big sack on quarterback Sam Howell, and his team left the field going 3-and-out, losing 7 yards in the process.
The Commanders held Saquon Barkley up for a few early plays, but after a big 33 yard completion from Tyrod Taylor to Jalin Hyatt, they got a good taste of what Barkley could bring. Barkley had two consecutive runs of 9 and 12 yards. Then it looked like there was a great touchdown catch by Hyatt in the end zone, but it was incomplete. Still, I was looking forward to seeing the Giants score first when Graham Gano came in to kick a 42-yard field goal, but it went wide right.
It seemed like the same old story when the defense next got Washington 3-and-out. They were pulling their weight, but the offense was falling short as they did on their next drive. Washington was handled again with a third down sack on Howell, and Taylor got Wan'Dale Robinson, Darius Slayton, and Darren Waller involved on three straight 20 plus yard completions. With Washington's focus turning towards these receivers, Taylor found room to run 20 yards for a first down.
Then the offense took a step back to their usual style of play when a first and goal sack on Taylor put them at the 12-yard line to close out the first quarter. Barkley's run got them to the five, but a holding penalty put them back to the 15. Taylor stepped up with a throw to Waller in the end zone. I never thought I would be so excited to see a touchdown pass, but this was the first one the Giants have had at MetLife Stadium this year!
Things only got better from there. There was another drive ending sack on Howell and an interception. Waller had a 16 yard catch, and Barkley took a short catch for a 32 yard run into the end zone for a touchdown. There was nine minutes left and during that time Giants offense stalled with Tayor taking a sack on each of his next two possessions, and he had no time on the last one. Meanwhile, the defense came up with two more drive ending sacks on two of three of Howell's next possessions before the half ended, with the Giants up 14-0.
In the third quarter the Giants defense continued where they left off, hitting Howell with another sack and 3-and-out, but Sterling Shepard fumbled the punt return, and Washington had the ball at the Giants 21-yard line. The defense suddenly found themselves back on the field, but the newly encouraged Washington offense got past a 4th-and-1 play, and soon had themselves a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-7.
The Washington defense was also energized and the Giants never gained more than 20 yards on their next three possessions until their next to last in the game. Even though Taylor was sacked twice on this drive, he got the team from their own 20-yard line to a 1st-and-goal at the Washington 10 yard line. That's when Washington's defense came up big forcing Barkley to fumble. This looked like it could be one of those games that could shift from a sure almost win to a tie game and a possible loss, especially when the Giants defense let Howell get his team from his own 8-yard line to a first down on the Giants 12-yard line.
brian Daboll even took a timeout thinking he might need to get the ball back with some time, but when a pass from Howell was incomplete on a 4th-and-5 from the 7 yard line, you knew the Giants would have their 14-7 win over the Commanders. The Giants never make it easy on themselves or for the fans even when they win, and this game was one of those. In the end, it was great to see the Giants score some points and get their first win of the season at MetLife Stadium."

"The Giants left Washington guessing until close to game time that Daniel Jones was not cleared to play. The Giants offense got things going in the first half of the game scoring two touchdowns, but then, what happened? Tyrod Taylor had his second start, and in the first half, despite taking 3 sacks, had thrown for 209 yards, with 10 first down passes and 2 touchdowns. On three runs, Taylor contributed 25 yards to the 8 from Matt breida and the 40 from Saquon Barkley for a team total of 73 rushing yards. The Giants were up 14-0, and could have had 17, but for a missed 42-yard attempt from Graham Gano.
In the second half though, the Giants scored no points. Taylor completed only 4 more passes, 2 for first downs, and added just 70 more passing yards for a total 279. As for the running game, Taylor added no yardage on 5 runs, while breida lost 4 on his one attempt, and Barkley had 11 more carries for an additional 37 yards. In addition, Barkley fumbled the ball over to Washington in the fourth quarter, when the Giants had 1st-and-goal at their 10-yard line and the score was 14-7. That killed their opportunity to make it a two score game.
The Giants defense had also played their best in the first half. During that time Washington had eight possessions, and none of them lasted more than 4 plays. Quarterback Sam Howell had competed just 5 of his 14 passes, was sacked 5 times, and Washington was held scoreless.
In the second half, Washington's offense went three-and-out and unexpectedly got the ball back when Sterling Shepard muffed the punt at the Giants 21-yard line. It's hard to fault the Giants defense on this one because of the field position, but six plays later Washington scored a touchdown, and was back in a game that the Giants had owned from the start. They did clamp down on Washington's next two drives, but on the third they moved the ball 81 yards, to the 9-yard line, to kick a field goal on fourth down. Leonard Williams blocked the field goal attempt, and Washington was still down by 7. The Giants offense had been stagnant, and that looked to have changed on their next drive until Barkley fumbled the ball.
Then the defense allowed Washington to have their next best drive of the day. In their 17 plays, Washington moved the ball from their own 8-yard line and had a third down at the Giants 7-yard line. Washington needed five yards for a first down. They had just made six first downs on this drive to get to the point where they could tie the game. Howell threw two passes incomplete, and with just one minute left, the Giants had their 14-7 win.
The defense held Washington to just 2 first downs in the first half, and let them have 12 in the second. Still, they stopped them on their last attempt, and that was the one that mattered. In the end, they held Washington to 7 points and came up with 6 sacks, to add to the five they've scored up to this point. Dexter Lawrence led the team, picking up his first two sacks of the season. Kayvon Thibodeaux had 1.5, Williams had 1 and Micah McFadden was credited with half of a shared sack.
It was fitting that it was Darren Waller who caught a touchdown in the second quarter. The Giants hadn't scored a first-half touchdown all season. Waller was denied the opportunity last week in the Buffalo Bills game, when a pass interference penalty was called, and then a second one was overlooked by the refs. On the day, Waller caught 7 of the 8 passes that came his way for 98 yards, and that one touchdown. Jalin Hyatt showed what he could do too. His two catches went for for 33 and 42 yards. Darius Slayton and Wan'Dale Robinson each caught 1 of 2 passes, and each catch was 22 yards. To go along with his 77 rushing yards, Barkley caught 3 of 4 passes for 41 yards, including his 32 yard touchdown.
What the Giants need to do is put two good halfs of football together if they expect to win games against teams that are better than the one they faced today. That's especially so on the offense, which has been taking baby steps in that direction. Possibly Jones and Andrew Thomas will be back, so the Giants will have their best starting offense ready to face off with the Jets next Sunday."

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