NY Giants Week 1 Report Card: New Year, Same Lousy Showing  

After an impressive looking preseason prep that saw them go 3-0 and the offense score 30+ points, the New York Giants got a dose of reality at the hands of the Washington Commanders, who logged their third straight win over their division rivals by a score of 21-6.

The grades are in and they’re not pretty, so brace yourselves, Giants fans.

For the third year in a row, the Giants failed to put a touchdown on the board in their Week 1 opener. The scoring this week came courtesy of two Graham Gano field goals and that was it. 

Of course, when your offensive line doesn’t pass block for the quarterback–Russell Wilson was hit eight times this week and sacked twice–and when your offensive line can clear out defenders at the second level for the running game, is it any wonder that the Giants struggled to move the ball?

But that’s not the worst of it. There were two first-half trips to the red zone, the Giants managing just one field goal on the two (technically a shutout since the idea is to score touchdowns). 

Even more alarming, considering the Giants spent a lot of time this summer working on both the high and low red zone areas, is that on their first drive, they failed to punch it in on six tries and on their second (in the fourth quarter), they also came up short on six attempts.   

That’s just not going to cut it, and to be frank, we’re not even sure if switching quarterbacks is the answer if the offensive line is going to be problematic.

The Giants defense did what it could to hold the Commanders down, and in fact did a decent enough job until late in the game when the dam burst open and then suddenly there were missed tackles galore, with four of the Commanders longest plays from scrimmage coming in the game’s final 15 minutes. 

Think the Giants’ run defense is fixed? Think again. Washington finished with 220 yards on the ground, an average of 6.9 yards per carry, with many of their better runs coming when Dexter Lawrence was getting a breather. 

The most alarming trend? The Commanders recorded 102 of their 220 rushing yards on first downs, the longest runs being 14 yards and a 19-yard touchdown. That comes to a 5.66 yards per rush attempt allowed average. Not good.

Also not good was the pass defense. Jayden Daniels completed 19 of 30 pass attempts for 233 yards and one touchdown, often finding soft spots in the Giants’ zone coverage, those in the middle of the field. 

The saving grade? The pass rush. The Giants managed five hits on Daniels and three sacks, two of those coming from outside linebacker Brian Burns, who was one of the few bright spots. But overall, it just wasn’t enough.

Oh and did the Giants forget to bring the Turnover Chest with them? Because not a single defender managed to come within sniffing distance of a turnover.

Graham Gano was fine, hitting one long field goal (55 yards) and a 21-yard chip shot. Interestingly, the Giants had punter Jamie Gillan kick off to start the game, but he was once again inconsistent. 

On his final punt, he had a chance to pin the Commanders deep, but he overkicked the ball and it went for a touchback, the Commanders driving the length of the field for the game-sealing scoring drive. Otherwise the Commanders finished with zero putin return yards on two returns while the Giants punt returners finished with an 8.0 average 

One of the biggest questions we have is why, after seeing the offensive line struggle with pass protection, didn’t the Giants adjust to having Wilson work more from the shotgun? Maybe that would have set up the passing game a bit better?

Head coach Brian Daboll, who’s been itching to get Jaxson Dart into the game, didn’t do so this week (not that it probably would have mattered given how the rest of the team played). Still, it’s just a matter of time before Daboll makes that switch, as Wilson was off in terms of timing with his throws and was missing plays he should have made. 

Considering Wilson didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard in the preseason, we wonder how long Daboll can hold his water on Dart. 

Which raises another question related to the coaching: Did Daboll, who didn’t play his starters in the preseason finale, once again misjudge their readiness and ability to maintain any sort of momentum?

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