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10 Things To Watch For

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10 things to watch in Giants vs. Commanders

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TURNING THE PAGE

There's no denying the 2024 campaign did not get off to an ideal start for the Giants. Brian Daboll's squad will now look to put Week 1 in the rearview mirror, as the focus shifts to the Commanders.

"It's a long NFL season," Daboll said. "Make the corrections you need to make. ... There was some good, there was some not-so-good. Make the corrections, be consistent, and get ready for a good week of preparation against Washington."

"Me personally my biggest thing with Week 1, it's exactly what you just kind of alluded to, the highs of training on your own, coming back with the guys, for us specifically, a new system, OTAs, training camp," safety Jason Pinnock added. "And you're on this big roller coaster and you get to the top and it's Week 1. It's not like the roller coaster is over. It's one week. I mean obviously, yes, we'd like to win. Home opener, at home, new jerseys, feeling good. Of course, that's the goal. But no panic. Just urgency."

The Giants are faced with an opportunity to get the season on track. The Commanders allowed nearly 400 yards of offense to the Buccaneers last weekend, aided by Tampa Bay converting on nine of 13 third-down attempts. Washington looks a lot different than last year following the hires of Adam Peters as general manager and Dan Quinn as head coach in the offseason, along with their significant roster turnover. Nonetheless, the Giants have controlled the divisional series over the last few years, going 7-2-1 against the Commanders since 2019.

"Going on the road, against a good Commanders team, in a kind of hostile environment early on the season after we kind of have some bad taste in our mouth from the performance we put out there against the Vikings, this game is going to be critical," guard Jon Runyan said. "I think it's going to be more critical for our confidence as a team and be able to build that and let everybody know that we are a good team. I think we're able to prove that in training camp. We had some great training camp practices and some great scrimmages, as well. I think that the preseason games were also really inspiring, as well. It's just going to take time to build this thing and build the confidence of this team, going down there to Washington."

ALL-TIME SERIES

The New York Giants (0-1) visit the Washington Commanders (0-1) in Northwest Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 15 for their first road game of the 2024 season. Kickoff is set for 1:00p.m. ET on FOX.

The Giants and Washington have met in 183 regular-season matchups since 1932, making Washington the Giants' most frequent opponent. The Giants lead the all-time series, 107-70-5, and have a record of 50-40-2 on the road against Washington.

In 2023, the Giants swept the season series, winning 14-7 in MetLife Stadium on Oct. 22 and 31-19 on Nov. 19, 2023. The Giants look to extend their current winning streak against Washington to four games.

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INJURY REPORT

Giants

Out: CB Nick McCloud (Knee), LB Darius Muasau (Knee), WR Gunner Olszewski (Groin)

Note: Outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen, who underwent surgery this week for a fractured leg, will not accompany the team for Sunday's game. His role on the sideline will be assumed by defensive assistant Ben Burress.

Commanders

Out: CB Emmanuel Forbes Jr. (Thumb)

Questionable: DE Clelin Ferrell (Knee), S Quan Martin (Hamstring), DT Jer'Zhan Newton (Foot)

GETTING THE OFFENSE ON TRACK

A year after ranking 30th in the league with 15.6 points per game, the Giants were held to two field goals in last week's season opener. The good news for quarterback Daniel Jones and the Giants offense is that they now face a Commanders team that the 27-year-old has had a lot of success against throughout his career. In seven starts against Washington, Jones is 5-1-1 with a nearly 70 percent completion rate, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions, good for a 98.0 passer rating. Jones has also rushed for 324 yards and a touchdown against the Commanders with a 6.2 average yards per carry.

The sixth-year quarterback completed just 22 of 42 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions against the Vikings in Week 1, while adding 15 yards on six carries. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Jones said he missed some opportunities and will look to correct his mistakes in Week 2.

"I think overall just playing quicker, being cleaner with my feet. Definitely some things to clean up and I'll look to do that," Jones said. "I think certain decisions here and there could have done a better job. Each play you try to take something from and learn something and then apply that to this week of practice and improve it."

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield completed 80 percent of his passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns last week against Washington, along with another 21 yards on the ground. This comes after Washington ranked last in the league in both passing yards and touchdowns allowed in 2023. The Commanders defense also allowed the most touchdowns (19) and fourth-most yards per attempt (8.1) while in zone coverage last season, which Mayfield took advantage of in Week 1 (19 of 22 passing for 229 yards and two touchdowns).

BIG ROLES FOR ROOKIES EARLY ON

Heading into the season opener, we knew that Malik Nabers would play a significant role in the offense right away. The No. 6 overall pick caught five passes for a game-high 66 yards, which also led all rookies in Week 1. Nabers was moved around the formation pre-snap in order to generate plus matchups for the rookie. Next Gen Stats had Nabers down for 172 yards in pre-snap motion, which was the sixth-most of any player in Week 1. He finished with 62 yards on plays in which he was sent in motion, which tied him for the second-most in the league with A.J. Brown and only trailing Cooper Kupp (75).

Nabers was far from the only rookie to make an impact in the opener. Safety Tyler Nubin led the team with seven total tackles (five solo) while joining Bobby Okereke and Tae Banks as the only three players to be on the field for every defensive snap. Cornerback Dru Phillips was on the field for only 15 defensive snaps but made his presence felt with four tackles (three solo), including a tackle for loss, and a forced fumble. Linebacker Darius Muasau was second on the team with six tackles (four solo) and had an interception and a tackle for loss while allowing only two receptions for 15 yards on 15 coverage snaps. However, Muasau has been ruled out for Week 2 with a knee injury.

Tight end Theo Johnson was on the field for significantly more snaps than any other tight end on the roster, playing 61 snaps, while running back Tyrone Tracy saw the field for 14 offensive snaps. While Johnson and Tracy didn't do a ton in their NFL debut, they did combine for seven targets. Undrafted defensive lineman Elijah Chatman also saw the field for 24 defensive snaps and finished with one solo tackle in his debut.

Nabers, Nubin, Johnson, Muasau and Chatman started the game for the Giants, marking the first time since the 1970 merger that the Giants started five rookies in a season opener. It was also the first time the Giants started two rookies on both offense and defense in Week 1.

"I would say they're wired the right way, all these guys," Daboll said about the rookies in his weekly conversation with Giants.com. "In terms of their passion for their game, their leadership, and I don't really care that they're rookies or not, you can be a leader when you're a rookie because of the style that you play with and because of the way you carry yourself and your mentality. This has been a good class to work with, skill set-wise and the right kind of makeup."

PRIME OPPORTUNITY FOR WAN'DALE

While Malik Nabers led the team in receiving yards in the opener, Wan'Dale Robinson finished with the most receptions and targets. The shifty slot receiver brought in six of 12 targets for 44 yards, as 10 of those targets came on either short routes (0-9 air yards) or behind the line of scrimmage. Robinson also continued to play a small role in the run game, adding one carry for 14 yards.

Robinson serves as the team's primary slot receiver, evidenced by his 28 routes (80 percent) out of the slot in Week 1. The Commanders used a second-round pick (No. 50) on nickel cornerback Mike Sainristil this year, but the rookie got his NFL career off to a rocky start. According to Next Gen Stats, the former Michigan corner allowed four receptions for 50 yards and two touchdowns against the Buccaneers. In fact, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and rookie Jalen McMillan each caught one touchdown while lined up in the slot last week.

View photos of the Giants on the practice field preparing for their Week 2 matchup against the Commanders.

DEXTER'S DOMINANCE CONTINUES

Over the last two seasons, Dexter Lawrence has established himself as not only the Giants' best defender, but also one of the top defensive linemen in the NFL. The 6-foot-4, 340-pound lineman has been selected to back-to-back Pro Bowls along with two consecutive second-team All-Pro selections, and got his 2024 campaign off to a similar start.

Lawrence was nothing short of dominant against the Vikings in Week 1. The 26-year-old generated a team-high seven quarterback pressures on just 20 pass rush snaps, according to Next Gen Stats, leading to a career-best single-game pressure rate of 35.0 percent. He also had an average get-off of 0.89 seconds, which would have tied him for the fourth-fastest among all defensive tackles with 250+ pass rush snaps last season. Lawrence finished with three tackles (two solo), a sack and a pass defensed.

"Dex is going to be a handful for a lot of guys in this league, whether it's one or two guys," defensive coordinator Shane Bowen told the media Thursday. "He has a knack for winning versus two, which is extremely rare. If they're putting four hands on him and he's still winning, that means we've got a lot of one-on-ones on the other side. We've got to be able to win those. Hopefully, at times, that will result in maybe them having to get four hands off of him, to free him up. It goes hand-in-hand. It goes both ways. Finding ways to create for him, always, and knowing if we don't, he can still factor, is exceptional for a coordinator."

Washington surrendered 16 quarterback pressures and two sacks against the Buccaneers last week, according to NGS. Last year, the Commanders tied the Panthers for the second-most sacks allowed on the season with 65. The interior of Washington's offensive line consists of Nick Allegretti (left guard), Tyler Biadasz (center), and Sam Cosmi (right guard). The trio combined for six pressures allowed in the opener.

KAYVON'S SUCCESS VS. COMMANDERS

Kayvon Thibodeaux made a big jump from his rookie season to Year 2. The outside linebacker saw his sack total increase from four to 11.5 last season, while also finishing with more quarterback hits (16) and forced fumbles (three). Thibodeaux was unable to make much of an impact in the season opener, finishing with just one quarterback hit, but has a prime opportunity to get going against the Commanders this weekend.

Over his first two seasons, Thibodeaux has performed his best when facing the Commanders. In four games against the division rival, the 23-year-old has registered 5.5 sacks out of his career 15.5. He has also recorded 26 total tackles (15 solo), seven tackles for loss and eight quarterback hits, all of which are easily the most he's had against any opponent. Thibodeaux also has his only career touchdown against the Commanders on a play in which he stripped the ball out of the quarterback's hands, recovered it himself and fell into the end zone.

"We see them twice a year, so I'm excited," Thibodeaux told reporters Wednesday. "Jayden Daniels is a great quarterback. He's from Cali. Grew up knowing him, grew up with him, so I understand he's a great player and I'm excited to go against him."

Washington's offensive tackles struggled at times against the Buccaneers last week. Right tackle Andrew Wylie was credited with five quarterback pressures allowed, according to NGS, while Cornelius Lucas and Brandon Coleman combined for three pressures surrendered at left tackle.

SLOWING DOWN WASHINGTON'S RUN GAME

Washington running backs Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler combined for 14 carries for 50 yards last week, good for an average of 3.6 yards per carry, while adding a touchdown. The two backs really made their presence felt in the passing game as they finished as the Commanders' top two receivers. Ekeler brought in a team-high four receptions for 52 yards, while Robinson finished right behind him with three catches for 49 yards.

In addition to the two running backs, the Giants defense will also have to keep an eye on rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. The No. 2 overall pick led the Commanders with 16 rush attempts in Week 1 and totaled 88 yards (5.5 avg.) with two touchdowns.

"Explosive," defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said about the rookie QB. "He eats up grass. If he gets loose and he gets vertical, he's eating up grass in a hurry."

Veteran inside linebacker Bobby Okereke will play a big role in slowing down the Commanders' rushing attack on Sunday.

Okereke is coming off a career year in his first season with the Giants. The veteran registered 149 total tackles (92 solo) while setting new career-highs in sacks (2.5), tackles for loss (11), quarterback hits (six), forced fumbles (four), and passes defensed (10). Okereke had three tackles (two solo) in the Week 1 game against the Vikings, but is set up to make a larger impact this weekend against the Commanders.

ATTACKING COMMANDERS' RUN DEFENSE

In addition to the passing attack, the Giants will look to get the run game going against the Commanders. Devin Singletary, Tyrone Tracy and Eric Gray combined for 14 rush attempts for 45 yards in Week 1, good for an average of 3.2 yards per carry. The three running backs also had a total of six receptions between the three of them, totaling 29 receiving yards.

While the Commanders did a good job of limiting Rachaad White to just 31 yards on 15 carries (2.1 avg.) last week, rookie back Bucky Irving gained an impressive 62 yards on nine carries (6.9 avg.). The two running backs also combined for eight receptions for a whopping 89 yards.

The Giants will also look to use Daniel Jones in the run game after the quarterback totaled 15 yards on six carries last week. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield ran the ball just three times against the Commanders in Week 1 but was able to gain 21 yards.

One of the first players the Commanders signed during free agency this offseason was veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner, who played under Dan Quinn in Seattle. The veteran linebacker appears to be the anchor of the Commanders' run defense, totaling 10 tackles (five solo) and three tackles for loss in his Washington debut last week. The Commanders also have a talented pair of defensive tackles in Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, not to mention rookie second-round pick Jer'Zhan Newton, who returned to practice Thursday and could make his NFL debut against the Giants this weekend.

View photos from the all-time series between the New York Giants and the Washington Commanders.