The New York Giants got back on track as they defeated the Washington Commanders on Sunday Night Football.
The 20-12 victory was a hard-fought contest that looked like it could go either way the whole time. Nevertheless, New York stayed in control for most of the game and picked up a critical win for their playoff hopes putting them at 8-5-1 and currently in the second wild-card spot.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this win.
Offense: C+
While the offense only scored 13 points in this contest it was enough to get the job done.
There was definitely a lot left on the board on Sunday for Big Blue but there were some key metrics of improvement compared to the last time out against Washington. Daniel Jones was not sacked once in this game compared to four times last game which allowed New York to put together long drives that drained the clock and the Washington defense.
Saquon Barkley also improved a lot in this game from the last as he only recorded 81 scrimmage yards and 3.5 yards per carry in Week 13 compared to 120 scrimmage yards and 4.8 yards per carry in Week 15. On New York’s last drive, Barkley put together multiple 10-plus yard runs that helped the Giants drain the clock and get a crucial field goal.
However, things were not all sunshine and rainbows for this offense as they tied a season-low in points scored. Jones also passed for only 160 yards on 32 attempts in this match as he failed to really open up this game through the air. And while no sacks were recorded, this offensive line committed several penalties and allowed a lot of pressure including four quarterback hits.
This offense will have an opportunity to improve next week against a Minnesota Vikings defense that ranks among the worst in the NFL.
Defense: A
This was arguably the best defensive performance of the season for Big Blue.
It was not perfect by any means as they allowed Washington to run all over them (159 rushing yards on 6.1 yards per carry) and hit several big plays, including a fourth-quarter 61-yard pass. However, New York made the necessary stops at the right time and held the Commanders to just 12 points.
On the other hand, the defense scored seven points of their own. This came on Kayvon Thibodeaux’s strip-sack that he scooped and scored. The fifth overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft had a night as he recorded 12 tackles and three tackles for a loss to go along with his strip sack touchdown.
The rest of the Giants’ defense was also getting pressure on Taylor Heinicke as he was sacked a total of three times and hit eight. Heinicke also had two fumbles on the night, the second coming in the fourth quarter in the red zone.
Big plays like these were the reason why the Giants won the game. Specifically, on the last defensive drive of the game, New York was able to hold Washington at the one-yard line from scoring and potentially tying the game. This showed the heart of this defense as it hopes to continue its season by a week.
Special Teams: B
The Giants’ special teams unit played fairly well on Sunday.
In the return game, Richie James recorded 32 yards on two punt returns while Gary Brightwell brought his lone kickoff return attempt back for 21 yards. As for the punting game, Jamie Gillan had one of his better games of the year as he pinned the Commanders inside the 20-yard line three times on the night.
Graham Gano also had a perfect kicking performance as he made both of his extra points and his two field goals, the longest coming from 50 yards out.
The only blemish on the night was that New York allowed Antonio Gibson to return three kicks for 93 yards.
Coaching: B
Brian Daboll deserves a ton of credit for having his team win a game that could possibly send the Giants to the playoffs for the first time in six years.
This team was fired up to play on Sunday and it showed as they forced turnovers and played with passion. Daboll’s in-game management definitely could use some work as he needs to improve on managing the clock and made a fourth-down call that looks great in hindsight but was definitely very questionable at the moment. Regardless, Daboll picked up his eighth career win and his first over a divisional foe.
As for the coordinators, it was not the best outing for Mike Kafka. Outside of the run game (and specifically Barkley), the Giants’ offense looked anemic. New York seemed to stay in their vanilla passing schemes the whole game and it was simply not getting the job done. The read-option was also not used that effectively as Jones only rushed for 35 yards on 10 attempts. The biggest problem for this offense, however, was their 20-percent success rate on third downs, which allowed Washington to stay in the game.
On the other side of the ball, Wink Martindale put up another masterclass with a severely undermanned personnel group. Knowing that his secondary was paper thin, Martindale got after the quarterback and did it well as Heinicke finished with only a 35.9 quarterback rating.
Martindale also had the Giants do what they have been all season which is being an amazing bend-don’t-break defense allowing an absurdly low 10-percent success rate on third downs. This defensive success will need to continue in Week 16 against a red-hot Vikings offense.
