The New York Giants came out victorious against the Washington Commanders in Week 7.
Big Blue picked up a much-needed divisional win, 14-7, in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday. With the win, the Giants improve to 2-5 but remain in the gutter of the NFC East. Nevertheless, this was a big step in the right direction for New York as they hope to save their season.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this win.
Offense: C+
Big Blue’s offense ended its three-game touchdown drought by scoring not only one but two touchdowns.
This was by no means a phenomenal game by the Giants’ offense but they finally got some production from their offense. Tyrod Taylor showed why he is one of the better backup quarterbacks in the NFL on Sunday as he put up 279 passing yards for two touchdowns with a 116.9 passer rating. He also got a lot of help from his pass catchers in this one as five different receivers had receptions of over 20 yards.
Darren Waller and Jalin Hyatt were the stars of the day on the offensive end. Hyatt had two catches for 75 yards while Waller was a reception monster with seven catches for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Despite all this success in the passing games the Giants’ suffered from the same woes in Week 7. The ground game was inefficient as New York only averaged 3.3 yards per carry on the day. This is mostly due to the fact that the offensive line had injuries at nearly every position. This was also felt by Taylor quite a bit as he was pressured all day getting sacked four times. This offensive line needs to get healthy quickly if the Giants want to continue winning games as losing in the offensive trenches each week is not sustainable.
Finally, Saquon Barkley had a solid day from a production standpoint (118 scrimmage yards and a touchdown) but his fumble in the red zone at the end of the fourth quarter was simply unacceptable. It could have been a game-deciding fumble and Barkley is lucky the defense stood strong.
Defense: A
The Giants’ defense won this game because of their dominance at the line of scrimmage. Dexter Lawrence led the way with two sacks and four quarterback hits but got a lot of help from his star teammates (Kayvon Thibodeaux had 1.5 sacks and Leonard Williams had one sack). Overall, the team recorded 12 quarterback hits and six sacks on the day. This unit also helped to stifle the Commanders rushing output as they only totaled 76 yards on the day.
The secondary also showed up to play as they recorded six passes defensed and Deonte Banks notched his first career interception. Sam Howell was held to a mere 60.5 passer rating completing just barely over 50 percent of his passes.
The defense also came up big in big moments as they stopped Washington in the red zone on their last drive of the game in what would have been a potential game-tying touchdown. The only touchdown on the day for Washington came off of a muffed punt by Sterling Shepard allowing for a short field for the Commanders. While holding the division rivals to a field goal would have been ideal, the only points allowed on the day coming off of a fluke play is allowable.
Special Teams: D+
On the other hand, the special teams unit tried to lose the game for the Giants.
For starters, Eric Gray muffed a punt that had to be recovered by Nick McCloud in an amazing rescue job. Then Shepard came in for Gray but was less than ideal as a returner, muffing a punt of his own but this one was recovered by the Commanders setting up the only score of the game.
Disaster also followed in the kicking game, as Graham Gano’s rough season continued as he missed yet another field goal.
The saving graces for this unit were that Jamie Gillan nailed two punts inside the 20-yard line and the Leonard Williams field goal block at the beginning of the fourth quarter, keeping Washington at seven points.
Coaching: B-
Brian Daboll & Co. picked up a much-needed win on Sunday.
Daboll seemed to have his troops fired up to win this rivalry game. The Giants looked like the much better team on Sunday and probably should have come out of this one with a much bigger win. Turnovers are an issue that Daboll and the team need to get in check as that was the only reason the game was in jeopardy.
Mike Kafka and the offense looked a lot better in Week 7. They mounted a few long drives into Washington territory, coming away with two touchdowns. Kafka also finally got Waller involved in the passing attack as he nearly reached 100 receiving yards on the day. However, Kafka once again needs to scheme up better protections with his offensive line and better third-down playcalls as the Giants converted only five of their 16 third-downs.
Wink Martindale was phenomenal on Sunday. The defensive coordinator got after Howell and that porous Commanders’ line that allowed the most sacks in the NFL so far this year. Martindale also had a foolproof game plan that was amazing in killing drives as Washington only completed one of their 15 third-down attempts.
