The Giants.com crew reacts to the team's 21-18 loss to the Commanders in Week 2:

John Schmeelk: Despite scoring just 18 points against the Commanders on Sunday, the Giants' offense was still efficient. Due to a lopsided time of possession situation, the offense had only seven possessions and scored touchdowns on three of them thanks in part to a strong run game led by good line play.

Much like the Vikings did in Week 1, the Commanders showed some lighter boxes, but this week, the Giants were able to take advantage of it. The offensive line created a lot of space with double team blocks up front, giving Devin Singletary room to get to the second level where he went to work.

Singletary showed the type of elusiveness and contact balance that we saw on tape from his time in Houston and Buffalo. According to Pro Football Focus, he forced 10 missed tackles in the game and had 75 yards after contact. He routinely turned five- or six-yard runs into 15 yard runs as he navigated through tight ends and defensive backs.

Singletary finished with four runs of 10 or more yards and only three runs that went for negative yards. His fumble in the third quarter was the disappointing part of his performance, but otherwise he was fantastic behind an offensive line that did well in both the run and pass game for all four quarters. If the Giants can run the ball like they did against the Commanders for the remainder of a long NFL season, it will make their offense far more consistent.

Dan Salomone: Malik Nabers is proudly wearing Ray Flaherty's No. 1, but No. 3 is really his digit. Third down is where teams need their best players to step up, and the rookie has done just that, among a variety of other things, in his young NFL career.

Through two games, the sixth overall pick from LSU has 15 catches for 193 yards and a touchdown. On third down in particular, he has been targeted six times, resulting in six catches for 115 yards (19.2-yard average), five first downs, four plays of 25 yards or more, and his first NFL score.

Against Washington, Daniel Jones found him for 25 yards on third-and-nine to put the Giants in scoring range on their final drive. Nabers was targeted for the 18^th and final time on fourth-and-four from the Washington 22 with 2:09 remaining in a tie game. This one, he was unable to corral as he fell out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Commanders for their game-winning drive.

"They're high on me, they're passing me the ball, they know I can make plays," Nabers said after the game. "I'm sure, out of a thousand times, they're going to continue to call that play and go at me on fourth down again. Obviously, I want to make that play. I'm disappointed. No matter how good of a game you can play, that last play came down to me. I'm hurt to let those veterans down. They know what kind of player I am – Dex(ter Lawrence), (Brian) Burns, Isaiah (Simmons), I know what kind of confidence they got in me. I don't ever want to let my team down."

That is the maturity you want to see from a receiver, who at 21 years and 49 days old, became the youngest player in NFL history with at least 10 receptions, 100 receiving yards, and a touchdown catch in a game. And the Giants likely wouldn't have been in position to win without him.

Matt Citak: Sunday's loss to the Commanders was one of the strangest games I've covered since joining the Giants. I'm going to focus today on the performance of the defense, which obviously featured some good and some bad. Let's start with the latter. One week after Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler combined for 50 yards on 14 carries (3.6-yard average) against the Buccaneers, the two running backs broke out in a big way against the Giants. Robinson put together a career day as he took 17 rush attempts for 133 yards, good for an average of 7.8 yards per carry. Meanwhile, the veteran Ekeler carried the ball eight times for 38 yards (4.8-yard average) while also adding 47 yards through the air on three receptions. When you added in Jayden Daniels' 44 yards on the ground, the Commanders' rushing total came out to 215 yards and just over 6.0 yards per carry.

Washington's success running the football played a significant role in dominating the time of possession, 37:32 to 22:28. The other factor was their efficiency on third down. The Commanders converted on seven of their 14 third-down attempts, along with their only fourth-down try. This came one week after they converted on only two of their eight third downs. All of this led to the Commanders scoring on every single one of their drives, except for a kneel-down before halftime.

That was the bad. The Commanders had six trips inside the red zone, and yet the Giants' defense was able to keep them out of the end zone every time. Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, along with numerous players, have spoken the last few weeks about the importance of "protecting their house" when opponents get close. Washington got the ball inside the Giants' 10-yard line on four different occasions, and each time the defense held tough. That is an encouraging sign and certainly something to build upon moving forward. The pass rush also registered five sacks and seven quarterback hits on Daniels, a big improvement from their one sack and two quarterback hits in the opener.

Another positive on defense was the performance of two key pieces of the unit's future: safety Tyler Nubin and cornerback Dru Phillips. For the second consecutive game, Nubin played every single defensive snap and finished with five tackles (three solo), joining linebacker Bobby Okereke and cornerback Deonte Banks as the only players to be on the field for every snap on defense through the first two games. Phillips was not far behind with 66 defensive snaps played (92 percent), and the nickel corner shined in his first extensive action. The rookie third-round pick finished second on the team with 12 tackles (seven solo) while adding a sack, two tackles for loss, and a quarterback hit. Through two games, he has allowed just 26 yards on five receptions as the nearest defender in coverage, according to Next Gen Stats, and has also displayed great physicality.