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Giants (2-8) Washington (6-2)
Last Sunday the Commanders held the lead in
their game with the Chicago Bears up until the last minute. Behind 3 points, on
the last play of the game, Jayden Daniels threw a Hail Mary pass for a touchdown
and an 18-15 win.
The Giants kept their game close with the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and it was tied at halftime. The Steelers outscored the Giants after that leaving
them with a 26-18 loss. Washington
Commanders
In 2023 Josh Harris, who was
born in Maryland, took over the ownership role for the Washington Commanders.
It was too late for him to make any changes in his first year, and the Commanders
finished with a 4-13 record. Changes have been made, and the Commanders are leading
the NFC East division with a 6-2 record. Adam Peters is the new General Manager.
Former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn replaced Ron Rivera as the head
coach. Kliff Kingsbury, a former head coach for Arizona, replaced offensive coordinator
Eric Bieniemy. Joe Whitt Jr., who has coached with the Packers, Falcons and Cowboys
is now the defensive coordinator. The Commanders also have a new starting quarterback.
Their poor record allotted them the second overall draft selection, and they selected
Jayden Daniels.. Washington
Commanders Offense
Jayden
Daniels has gotten off to a great start to say the least. Rookie quarterbacks
aren't supposed to be this good. Daniels showed his skills starting on day one,
completing 70.8 percent of his passes for 184 yards, and he ran for 88 yards and
2 touchdowns. Going in they were looking for Daniels to throw more than 24 passes,
and limit his running, but the 16 runs he had resulted in 8 first downs, and those
two touchdowns. Since then though, Daniels has shown that he's been listening.
In the last two games Daniels played fully, he's averaged 36 passes and 7 carries.
We didn't add in the Carolina game sandwiched in between those games as Daniels
had limited play, suffering a rib injury during the first drive.
Daniels showed
he was healthy enough in his comeback game last week, throwing for 326 yards,
which included his 61-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin. That gave Daniels
his 7th on the year, with 2 interceptions, and he has 4 rushing touchdowns. In
the four years he's played, except his rookie year where he didn't play every
game, McLaurin has had over 1,000 receiving yards, scoring four or more touchdowns
in all five seasons. He's on that mark already, leading the team with 4 touchdowns
and 40 receptions averaging 14.5 yards a catch.
Washington was in need of
a tall tight end for their rookie quarterback to target, and they signed Zach
Ertz to a one year deal. Ertz is the second leading receiver and was used heavily
last week, catching 7 of 11 passes for 77 yards. Ertz and McLaurin have accounted
for exactly half of Washington's 96 passing first downs. The Commanders were happy
to see their rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr.
have a full recovery after being shot twice
in the right leg. Playing in just 12 games, he was their lead rusher, as he was
last year as well. Currently he leads the team with 101 carries for 461 yards,
and has 6 touchdowns. Daniels is also in the mix behind him with 74 carries for
424 yards, and the two are just about split providing 53 of the team's rushing
first downs. Washington
Commanders Defense
They
had a lot to work on this offseason. Last year the Commanders had the worst defense
in the NFL. They were 32nd against the pass, and 27th against the run. The team
finished last in points allowed, giving up an average of 30.5 points a game. The
Commanders started off this year giving up 37 points, but got on track in the
next game, with a 21-18 win over the Giants. The following week they gave up 33
points, and still had a win over the Bengals, thanks to Jayden Daniels completing
nearly every pass on the way to 38 points. The defense has had only one slip up
since then, helping them win four of their next five games. With their ups and
downs, the Commanders have improved to giving up about 10 points less a game.
They've
also done extremely well, with their passing defense. The Commanders are sixth
in the NFL, giving up just 186 passing yards a game. They have 22 sacks on the
year with an improved pass rush, ranking them 7th. Frankie Luvu has 49 total tackles,
and his 4 sacks have him second on the team to Dante Fowler Jr. who has 4.5. Rookie
tackle Jer'Zhan Newton showed what he could do with seven pressures last week
against the Bears. The Commanders strengthened their secondary picking up cornerback
Mike Sainristil in the second round of the draft, and they added safety Jeremy
Chinn from Carolina. Their areas of concern are the rushing defense, the low number
of interceptions, and giving up red zone touchdowns. Giants
Offense
Last week in the 26-18 loss the
Giants took to the Steelers, they came up with more points than they had in the
previous games with the Bengals and Eagles, but that two game total of 10 points
was an easy mark. In the only two games they've won so far, they passed 20 points.
Maybe they should take that as a hint as to what they should do. The Giants made
some big plays and had opportunities last week, but failed to take advantage.
In the first half, drives were cut short by penalties, but the score was tied
at 9-9. After that, thanks to rookie running back Tyrone Tracy 's efforts, the
running game kicked in. Tracy finished with a season high 145 yards on 20 carries,
including his 45-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Tracy had ended
up on concussion protocol this week, but has been cleared for this upcoming game.
In the last game against the Commanders, Devin Singletary carried the heavy load
with 16 carries for 95 yards and one touchdown. It would help if the Giants hit
the Commanders with a good one-two punch rushing attack in an area they're struggling
with. The offensive line is still trying to get its act together, and Daniel Jones
was afforded time for some nice completions. Darius Slayton pulled in four of
them for 108 yards, and two of them were over 35 yards. Malik Nabers caught a
team high seven passes for 71 yards, and he had a good game against Washington
last time, leading the team with 10 receptions for 127 yards and one touchdown.
If those two receivers could cut down on the drops for this game it would be great. Giants
Defense
The Giants defense has been bringing
it this year. Their passing defense is ranked 8th, and they lead the league with
35 sacks. That's one more than they had all last season. Dexter Lawrence has 9
of them, and Azeez Ojulari has 6, after sacking Russel Wilson twice last week.
Brian Burns is third on the team with 5 sacks, coming up with one sack in his
fourth consecutive game. What they need to do this week is concentrate on their
rushing defense. It was poor last year, where they ranked 29th in the league,
and it had been improving, but was poor in the last two weeks.
Not to mention
that in that last game with the Commanders, running back Brian Robinson hit the
Giants with 17 runs for 133 yards, an average of 8 yards a carry. Robinson is
dealing with a hamstring issue that could limit him, and he is listed as questionable
for this game. Quarterback Jayden Daniels also ran with the ball 10 times for
44 yards. Daniels has limited his runs since then, but everyone has seen what
he can do with his passing skills. The secondary should have more depth available
this week, as most all have come off the questionable list. That should help cornerback
Deonte Banks from having to be a one man show. Overall
Poor coaching decisions, penalties, missed tackles and dropped passes, all factor
in to wins and losses. The Giants have been on the wrong side of all that, and
injuries don't help. The Giants are once again breaking in a new kicker for this
game against Washington. It didn't work out well last time, and it comes down
to the Giants playing a solid game for a change, for some hope of a winning season.
NFC East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Giants (2-6) at Washington (6-2)
Sunday
at 1:00pm Cowboys (3-4) at Falcons (5-3)
Sunday at 4:05pm Jaguars (2-6) at
Eagles (5-2)
The Commanders and Eagles are the NFC East teams favored to win
in these games.
Check out.
Giants
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Next Games
Nov
10 Giants at Panthers (Germany)
Nov 24 Buccaneers at Giants
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