Giants Week 2 Storylines: How Will Giants Respond After Embarrassing Week 1 Loss?

The New York Giants head to Washington to face the Commanders, a team they've historically been able to handle.

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants tight end Theo Johnson (84) makes a catch during the second half in front of Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith (22) at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Maybe it’s just me, but this coming week almost feels like “Groundhog Day” for head coach Brian Daboll’s New York Giants.

Flashback to a year ago when in Week 1, the Giants were destroyed by the Dallas Cowboys on Kickoff Weekend to 40-0. It was as bad of a punch in the mouth as a team could take.

That game set the tone for the rest of the season. The Giants never really recovered from that beating in subsequent games. Injuries began to pile up, depleting the personnel the coaches planned to have for their plays and exposed the lack of depth at key positions. Although the team didn’t quit, it never regained the oomph it showed the previous season when it went 9-71.

• READ MORE: Giants Legend Embrassed by Current Team's Opening Week Showing

And now, in 2024, here we are again. The Giants had their lunch money taken from them by the Minnesota Vikings, a team that’s technically in their “class” yet who played as though they were two classes above the Giants. Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold had himself a game, and the Vikings were no match for the Giants.

The big question is how this version of the Giants will respond. Will they come out angry, taking it all out on a Washington Commanders team that they’ve recently been able to defeat successfully? Or will they continue to self-destruct under their ineptness?

An 0-2 start wouldn’t exactly be the end of the world if they were to lose, but it’s not preferable, not with a tough six-week stretch commencing after the Commanders game. 

And the Giants desperately need a get-right game to restore their confidence in themselves and what they’re doing out there.

Here’s a look at some other stories ahead of Sunday’s game at Washington.

The Daniel Dilemma

It’s been a rough few days for quarterback Daniel Jones, who picked up where he left off on Sunday before his season-ending ACL injury last year–and not in a good way.

Jones has been the subject of verbal vitriol thrown his way by talking heads and angry fans who have seen enough of his inconsistent ineptness. He’s been facing questions about his play, as has his head coach, who is sticking with him for the coming week, and his teammates, who have tried to defend him.

Jones wasn’t the sole problem leading to the Giants’ loss on Sunday, but because he’s in a very visible position, he’s taking the brunt of the heat. HE appears to have thick skin, at least outwardly.

Still, it remains to be seen if he can bounce back from the ugliness that unfolded Sunday and start to look like the quarterback he was nearly a year ago when he led the Giants back from a 20-0 deficit against the Arizona Cardinals by throwing two touchdown passes in that game.

If Jones does not rise to the occasion, that may just be enough to force Daboll’s hand to make a switch, particularly if Jones looks like a fish out of water.

Sep 8, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) drops back to pass against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third quarter at Raymond James Stadium. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Jayden Daniels

The Giants will get their first up-close look at Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels in a live NFL game.

You know, the same Jayden Daniels head coach Brian Daboll said he’d trade up for in the draft on Hard Knocks?

Daniels and the Commanders lost their opener 37-20 to the Bucs on Sunday. However, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner still completed 17 of 24 pass attempts (70.8 percent) for 184 yards, pedestrian numbers but still far better than what the Giants got out of their starting quarterback.

Daniels, who will have a brief reunion with Malik Nabers, his top receiver from their days at LSU before the game, also ran the ball 16 times for 88 yards and two touchdowns, which is probably not something the Commanders want to see him do every week given his past injury issues. 

Although Daniels left some plays out there on the field, he also didn’t put his team in any bad spots. 

Fast Starts

Daboll has steadfastly refused to offer any kind of specific answers to questions about what he sees as wrong with the tea and how he intends to fix it other than to say everything and everyone needs to get better.

Maybe that’s because the list of problems is longer than a child’s wish list for Santa Claus. 

The most obvious offensive problem, besides the quarterback's play (though, to be fair, six dropped passes and shoddy run blocking didn’t help), is that the Giants continue to come out of the gate slowly.

They were outscored by opponents 14-3 in the first half of the game, never a good outcome but especially not good when the opponent gets the ball to start the second half. This is a continuation from last year when the Giants were outscored 213-113 in the first half of those games.

A big part of that has been the inability to sustain drives. Last year, the Giants went three-and-out 18 times in the first quarter, the second most in the NFL. On Sunday, the Giants went three-and-out on their opening drive.

The Giants also don’t exactly help themselves when it comes to sustaining drives. On Sunday they converted 7 of 18 third down attempts (38.9 percent). Of their third down plays, six or one-third of the third-down situations required more than 10 yards for the first down.

Can’t have that and expect to win games, folks. The Giants know it. The question is what can they do about it outside of executing.

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (5) warms up before a game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. / John Jones-Imagn Images

Wakey, Wakey Giants Defense!

Other than for Dexter Lawrence II, the Giants' defense seemed to be sleepwalking, particularly during the pass rush. And as we all know, given the youth of the defensive secondary, if the pass rush isn’t getting pressure up front, that makes for a long day for the kids on the back end.

Such was the case Sunday. The Giants pass rush managed just two quarterback hits against Sam Darnold and one sack. Darnold went on to have a get-right game against the Giants, finishing 19 of 24 for 208 yards and two touchdowns with just one interception, that coming on a batted pass that was volleyed over to Giants rookie linebacker Darius Muasau.

No one is expecting the Giants to get home on every pass rush, but is it too much to ask for the unit to generate more than two hits in a game?  

Injuries

The Giants had a few injuries from Sunday–linebacker Carter Coughlin 

(pectoral-out for the season), receiver/punt returner Gunner Olszewski (groin, out several weeks), receiver Darius Slayton (concussion), inside linebacker Micah McFadden (groin),  and tight end Chris Manhertz (unknown, but seen getting X-rays after Sunday’s game.

The biggest known injury, though, was suffered by cornerback Nick McCloud (knee). Daboll wasn’t sure if McCloud was going to be day-to-day or week-to-week with his injury, but suffice it to say, given McCloud’s versatility on defense and as a special teams punt gunner, if he has to miss time, that is a big loss for the Giants.

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