Commanders Expecting an Improved Giants Team in Second Divisional Meeting

The Washington Commanders managed to sneak a win away from New York earlier in the season but understand it won’t be as easy to do again on the road this Sunda

Sep 15, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn looks on before game against the New York Giants at Commanders Field. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

It’s the most successful organizations in the NFL that know what they do in one game doesn’t necessarily translate to the result of the next, and that’s the mindset of the Washington Commanders as they shift gears to a road trip north to East Rutherford for a rematch with the New York Giants. 

The two NFC East rivals are set to square off in Week 9 for the second time this season, just seven weeks removed from their first meeting in the nation’s capital, a 21-18 affair in favor of the Commanders that featured an utter second-half collapse for the Giants. 

In typical fashion to their dominance against them, New York opened the game by scoring three touchdowns in the first three quarters behind the new pieces in their offensive huddle. Still, their Achilles heel would be slowing down the Washington side from advancing into field goal range eight times before shutting the doors on the endzone.

They gave up seven shots to kicker Austin Seibert by the time the final whistle sounded, and the final attempt sealed the deal on a humiliating early defeat that put the Giants in an oft-familiar 0-2 hole and the future of their 2024 campaign into question. 

Since that win, Washington has soared to one of the best records in the league at 6-2 and one of the most volatile offenses behind rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who has been electric. As one of the early candidates for Offensive Rookie of the Year, he’s putting up an average of 217 yards per game through the air and 53 on the ground to lead a Commanders unit that has surprised many by ranking third in the NFL in total production. 

Meanwhile, their opponent has seen a quite different story unfold. The Giants have fallen to 2-6 and lost three contests by 10 points or less due to poor offensive efficiency. Their defense, led by Shane Bowen, has been serviceable in getting pressure on the backfield, but it hasn’t been enough, with injuries and inconsistency failing the other side in the biggest moments. 

Despite their hot streak, the Commanders are coming into New Jersey off the heels of a close 18-15 win over the Chicago Bears last Sunday that nearly escaped their grasp before a Hail Mary highlight by Daniels and wide receiver Noah Brown saved the day at the buzzer.

It was a rare taste of adversity in what has been a bright campaign for the franchise, and one they aren’t ignoring that could continue into Sunday’s game if they sleep on a Giants team hungry for vengeance on their home turf. 

“Yeah, I mean, go out there and still try to execute our plan,” Daniels told reporters about his approach to round two with New York. “Obviously, what we faced them in, it will be a different game. It's going to be different from week two to now. Obviously, they have grown as a defense and a team. We've grown as an offense and a team, so it would be fun to go out there and play a division foe again."

In their first matchup, Daniels ran amuck on the Giants matador defense for a combined 270 yards, which was the most allowed to an opposing gunslinger in the first month of the season. With no answer outside the confines of field goal range, he calmly executed six drives of at least nine plays and 43 yards to keep the Commanders at bay until the final play when Seibert stole it for them.

Washington’s shaky offensive line didn’t play their best game, allowing five sacks to add to the Giants’ league-leading total of 35 entering this weekend. Still, the dual-threat player was able to unleash his running abilities 10 times for an average of 4.4 yards to convert drives and set up his kicker, whose health made all the difference in the contested second half.

After Week 2, Daniels’s performances have exploded to the tune of four with 21+ completions for at least 233 yards, seven touchdowns, and an average pass of 7.7 yards, including his incredible 91.3 completion percentage for 254 yards against the Bengals that won an epic primetime shootout in Week 7 and set a record for a single game by a rookie.  

He has also coupled that with five games of at least eight carries for 39 yards, four scores, and an average rush of 5.7 yards to give the Commanders a top-10 unit in average passing yards and all four major rushing categories. Together, they created football’s greatest scoring percentage of 60.5 in the eight-game span. 

However, he and the Commanders locker room know the tides are starting to push back against them at a critical midway point, starting with Daniels suffering a rib injury against the Carolina Panthers two weeks ago. The ailment is still not 100 percent and will force Daniels to face a Giants front that will be looking to bring the heat to an offense that went stagnant for just 18 points against the Bears. 

The No. 2 pick is expected to play in the contest and work to bring the offense back to life on the scoreboard. Still, it will be a tough task as he runs into a stout defense that has risen to sixth in pass rush win rate and ninth against the run and is more familiar with his game and pass protection the second time around. 

Daniels and company expect to be challenged in new ways, both physically and mentally, as they step onto the field to try to conquer their divisional opponent twice, but are embracing their first chance to look back at the film and make preparations to ensure rookie mistakes don’t plague them in the latest duel. 

“That's kind of why you go back, and you just look at how much you have grown and how they kind of played me that first time,” Daniels said. “You got to go out there and expect the unexpected.”

“They might switch up a whole different look and try to defend us in a different way. So, you gotta be ready for it, go back, and still get a basis of what they like to do. This is what they did in the back end and with the front. Obviously, they’ve got tremendous players that we gotta worry about, so it'll be a fun matchup.”

As the defense remains the big focus, the Commanders must also brace for the different elements that haunted them in the Giants’ offensive attack. That first worry starts with the daunting task of containing rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, who is now familiar with their system and has made the most of it in his second game since joining the pros. 

Nabers, former college teammates with Daniels at LSU, went berserk on a suspect Washington secondary for what was then a career-high ten catches for 127 yards and a touchdown in his welcome-to-the-league outing. He brought an 11.5 average distance of target that benefited greatly from the Commanders’ heavy use of man coverage against pass plays, a 31.5 percent cut that ranks 10th highest in the NFL. 

The Commanders have greatly picked up their use of blitzes when defending the pass for the eighth-highest mark in the league, which could play right into the skillset of the Giants’ No. 1 option and create a stellar performance for the young man who is targeted on 31 percent of his team’s routes when facing the pressure. 

That feat is good for 7th among wide receivers and will be something to watch as he battles with a defense that is 20th and 22nd in passing touchdowns and averaged yards allowed, respectively, and posted poor man coverage grades no matter who was guarding him.

They’ll also be keying on the increased role of play action that has trickled its way into the Giants' game plan to combat the extra pressures on a weakened offensive line. New York enters Sunday’s game with play-action concepts on 23.3 percent of their dropbacks which is starting to near their average reliance from last season, and has created almost 500 yards of offense with two scores in the same span. 

The Giants last two contests with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh saw a large dependence on the scheme, evidenced by Daniel Jones runs and frequent rollouts that gave routes extra time to develop and find separation that led to chunk plays over the middle of the field. 

Those were some of the handful of plays that elevated the passing offense to multiple 200+ yard nights, bolstered the run game behind Tyrone Tracy, and put the Giants back into the second contest for game-clinching scenarios. Washington knows they’ll be the next victim if it’s not controlled. 

“Yeah, it's for sure a factor in the run game if there's a real patience that you see with [New York Giants RB Tyrone Tracy Jr.] in the run game,” head coach Dan Quinn said. “ And then you add the play pass with it, and that's to me where offenses really can explode, where they look alike, feel alike, but play out differently.”

“They've played strongly on third down, so there's a lot that I've seen them improve upon since our game that was just the second game of the season… some talented guys, the receivers obviously with the catch and run, the ability for what they can do. You've seen that play out over the last two months.”

The last two months following their first meeting have changed a lot for both franchises, as one looks to pursue its first divisional crown and playoff appearance since 2020 while the other fights for pride and to display growth as an uncertain future lies ahead. Ahead of it all, none of that seems to matter as the Giants and Commanders line up in front of the pigskin to duke it out one more time in this calendar year. 

One team might have more important tangible factors to strive for and a stronger resume to run off of, but the overall message from the top remains as clear and audible as ever. For Washington, they will only be judged as good based on the performance left out on the field this Sunday afternoon and not on what happened in the first eight contests, including the one that they managed to steal from the jaws of defeat in Week 2 of a wide-eyed campaign. 

It’s all about taking another week to improve and discern what version of themselves they want to strive for in the weeks following their trip to the Big Apple and they are ready for a matchup with New York that is bound to test their resolve towards that goal. 

“I think what you want to see is teams improving as the season's going and you have to demonstrate that on an every week basis,” Quinn added. “What I do know is this is going to be a tough battle. That's what it was Week 2 and that's what we're preparing for again. And that's kind of what part of the fun of division games are. 

“They're tough, they're bad. You have to have a five-quarter mindset to take it as far as you have to take it to go get the win. And we know we'll get their best shot and in return they'll get ours.”

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