Three Keys to NY Giants' Week 1 Win Over Commanders

In their 21-18 loss to the Commanders in the first of the two meetings last season, the Giants' defense took advantage of some early weak links within their offensive front, getting to Daniels five times for a combined loss of 16 yards. 

What doesn’t seem like much damage in the bigger picture was a solid job of limiting Washington's trips into the red zone and making them come back into the game by playing, and sadly winning, the field goal battle. 

Suppose the Giants want any chance of hanging around and potentially beating the Commanders on Sunday. In that case, it's going to take another strong effort like that from their pass rush, which they've invested a ton of resources into, to make life more difficult for opposing gunslingers like Daniels. 

The Commanders ranked seventh or higher in all average drive metrics last season, including third in plays (6.49) and fourth in points (2.73), largely due to their strategy of leveraging Daniel’s mobility as a dual-threat passer to create longer drives. 

It’s likely that he has worked further on his skillset over the offseason and will come back even more prepared to wreak havoc on defenses that can’t get their hands on him before he takes off. The Giants' pass-rushing party, led by Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns, will need to be the catalysts in slowing down Daniels and making the Commanders beat them in other ways.

One thing to keep an eye on is the state of the Commanders’ offensive front, which has been banged up in camp and will already be missing one of its 2024 starters, right guard Sam Cosmi, who is out with a knee injury. Daniels benefited from a stronger front last year, and that is already being tested before his sophomore season commences.

Limit Commanders' Run Game

One area where the Giants struggled in their two matchups with the Commanders last year was slowing down the impact of their backfield on the ground.

In both contests, New York allowed at least 149 rushing yards, which helped the opposing team dominate the game clock by a difference of just over 15 minutes. 

The first meeting saw the Commanders’ party of three ball carriers torch the Giants for 215 rushing yards, the second-highest total allowed last season.

Seven weeks later, they churned another 149 yards with two running backs seeing double-digit attempts and three with long rushes of at least 16 yards. 

In addition, the Commanders’ running backs found some success earning a good chunk of their rushing yardage after contact.

According to Pro Football Reference, Washington ball carriers had two players with over 30 yards after contact in the second game, which accounted for nearly half of their total production in that realm.

Not much of those numbers come off as very surprising at first because of where the Giants' defense stood in terms of run response in 2024.

They finished with the 22nd-lowest run defense grade and ranked in the bottom third of the league in attempts (26th), yards allowed (27th), and average yards per attempt allowed (24th). 

The Giants also continued to struggle in wrapping up opposing backs when they had the chance, tallying 85 total missed tackles as a team and having 13 different players post a missed tackle rate above 10.0% in at least 150 run defense snaps. 

While part of that issue was exacerbated by the onslaught of injuries the Giants' defense faced in the front seven as the season progressed, it’s still a problem that will give them fits against a solid rushing team like the Commanders, who finished in the league’s top five teams in every major category. 

The Commanders’ arsenal has changed a little with the departure of Brian Robinsom Jr. to the San Francisco 49ers in a trade. However, they still have a veteran in Austin Ekeler, who found his old groove against New York, and are building faith in their young rookie, Jacoby Croskey-Merritt. 

As mentioned before, they boast possibly one of the game’s best current dual-threat quarterbacks in Jayden Daniels, who isn’t afraid to fall back into quarterback keeps and take off with the ball.

On the other side, the Giants have made some proper adjustments to counteract that strength and need to test their resolve from the jump on Sunday. 

Sure, the Commanders can still overcome an opponent with their aerial attack as well. Still, if the Giants want to give their offense more chances to control the ball, it’s the rushing attack that proved to be their bigger nemesis in beating Washington last season, and they need to resolve their issues with their upgraded unit up front.

Slow Down WR Terry McLaurin

Even though the Commanders snagged former 49ers star Deebo Samuel, all must expect that they will go into the season with Terry McLaurin remaining their top option for Jayden Daniels. 

In his first six seasons with the franchise, McLaurin has consistently surpassed 919 yards and four touchdowns in a single campaign, and he will now aim to compile his sixth consecutive 1,000-yard mark. 

McLaurin has faced off with the Giants 11 times in that same span, and his overall results have been quite mixed. He has had three 100+ yard outings against them dating back to the 2020 season, but in the last two seasons, his impact has started to decline as the opponent’s game plan has focused more on slowing him down.

The 29-year-old was barely a factor in the Week 2 win over the Giants in Landover, barely managing to collect 22 yards on 6-of-8 completions.

Then, in the Week 9 win at MetLife Stadium, he was held to just 19 yards on two catches, with the only exception being that both were for crucial touchdowns that helped Washington seal the deal.

The common theme of those two scores was that he was being defended by Giants cornerback Deonte Banks, who hasn’t fully demonstrated he can handle the job that comes with the secondary’s No. 1 option. 

Banks struggled in his two games against the Commanders, allowing a 66.7% completion rate in both contests, and was held responsible for those two scores by McLaurin. 

This year, most of the work figures to come from Paulson Adebo as the new No. 1 corner, but there could be times when the veteran receiver lines up opposite the second option, which, depending on the down, will be either Banks or Cor’Dale Flott.

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