Biggest Changes in Giants' Win vs. Commanders

The Giants made a few tweaks to what they did the first time against Washington. Coach Gene Clemons has a look at what they did.

The New York Giants again leaned on their defense Sunday against the Washington Commanders and, this time, came away with a 20-12 victory. 

There were many similarities between this game and the one two weeks ago. The run game was again the catalyst for the offense. The numbers were very similar to the game in New York. Saquon Barkley once again carried the ball 18 times, and Daniel Jones also tallied double-digit carries against the Commanders. 

Barkley had more success in Washington, amassing 87 yards, 25 yards more than he did in the game in New York. Barkley and Jones combined for 134 yards two weeks ago, and in their second matchup, they went for 122 yards. Barkley was able to find the endzone once in both games.

Kicker Graham Gano, who scored 97 points this season, was also a big factor as he again was the team's leading scorer. The coaching staff will watch the film and once again feel as if they left a significant amount of points on the field, but they will also be thankful to have such a reliable guy waiting to add three points when necessary. 

He kicked two field goals and converted two extra points in their first game in New York. He also kicked two field goals and converted two extra points at Washington. His long was 50 yards on Sunday and 48 yards two weeks ago. Over the two games, Gano was 4-5 on field goals and 4-4 on extra points.

The difference came down to the defense, with the offensive output looking very similar in both games. That unit played well enough to win both games, so the margins were razor-thin. 

At first glance, the only difference was the defensive touchdown scored by rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux on his epic strip sack and fumble recovery. Washington amassed 387 total yards at home and 411 yards in New York. Twenty-four yards is not much different, but when we dig into the numbers, there's one area that seemed to hold the key to the victory in Washington: third down conversion percentage.

The Giants were not bad on third down in their first matchup with the Commanders. Washington converted three of 14 third downs (21.4%), but it helped the Commanders run 82 plays in that game instead of the Giants 65 plays. 

In this recent matchup, New York held the Commanders to one-third down conversion on ten attempts. That resulted in Washington running 58 plays, 24 fewer plays than in the first game, while the Giants almost ran the same number of plays, just three fewer than the first time. 

This change allowed the Giants to win the time of possession by one minute in the game in Washington. In New York, the Commanders dominated the time of possession 41-29 minutes.

On Washington's last four possessions, the Giants were able to squash their drives on critical third down plays. The first was after they picked up seven yards on a first-down run. 

An incomplete pass made it third and three. Landon Collins and Darnay Holmes could stop Curtis Samuel short of a first down to force a punt. The second was a third and nine incompleteness that forced a 51-yard field goal. 

The third was the Dexter Lawrence and Azeez Ojulari force fumble on the Taylor Heineke sack down on the Giants' 5-yard line. The fourth and final stop was the third- and fourth-down incomplete passes on the Giants' 6-yard line.

The win gets New York closer to securing their first playoff birth since 2016. The next three games won't be easy as they go on the road to face the Vikings next week, come home against the Colts the following week, and then finish the season in Philadelphia against the Eagles. 

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