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Storylines to follow ahead of Thursday Night Football

CARTER-STORYLINES

The Giants will play their second divisional matchup in five days when the Commanders come to MetLife Stadium for a matchup under the  lights of Thursday Night Football.

While it wasn't the prettiest victory, the Giants went down to Philadelphia in Week 9 and picked up their first win at Lincoln Financial Field in over 13 years. Led by an outburst of seven sacks, including three from Arvell Reese, the defense held the Eagles in check while the offense did enough to escape Philly with the victory to bring the Giants' record to 5-2-1.

On the other sideline, the Commanders welcomed the Rams to the nation's capital last weekend. Led by Myles Garrett's three sacks of Jayden Daniels, the Rams were able to hold on for a 20-13 win. The loss dropped the Commanders to 2-5-1 heading into Thursday Night Football.

When they take the field at MetLife Stadium Thursday, it will be exactly one month and one day since the two teams last faced off. Of course, that game went a full 70 minutes and resulted in a 27-27 tie, the only tie to occur across the NFL thus far this season.

Here are storylines to follow ahead of Thursday's primetime matchup.

Reese's historic start

It is not hyperbole to say Reese has gotten his NFL career off to a historic start. The rookie linebacker is coming off the most dominant outing of his first season with 12 total tackles (10 solo), three sacks and a forced fumble, all of which led to him being nominated for Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week. Reese already won the award once this season after he registered nine solo tackles, including one tackle for loss, three passes defensed and an interception back in Week 4 against the Cardinals.

"He's so coachable," coach John Harbaugh said of the rookie linebacker. "We're bringing him from a lot of different places, and a lot of times he's picking, or he's setting the pick, or he's spying. He does everything. He never gets into that world like, 'I want to do this or that.' Or 'I want to rush the passer.' Or 'I want to cover man to man.' He doesn't worry about it. He just says, 'You tell me what to do. What does the defense call for? What's my job?' He's going to be doing it 100 miles an hour every time, and it's just very, very cool and refreshing to see that, especially in such a young guy."

Reese's strip-sack of Eagles quarterback Joe Milton III came in just 2.29 seconds, marking the fastest time to sack in the NFL this season. His next two sacks came while playing inside linebacker, which made him the first player in the league this season to have two sacks while aligned at inside linebacker. At 21 years and 70 days old, Reese became the youngest player in NFL history to have three sacks in a game. He also became the only rookie in the NFL since individual tackle stats were tracked in 1994 to record 10+ tackles and 3.0+ sacks in a single game. Reese currently sits two solo tackles behind Denver's Alex Singleton for the most in the league, with the Broncos linebacker having played one more game than Reese.

"It's what you hope for," Harbaugh told the media this week about drafting Reese. "I won't say we didn't think it was possible. I mean, that's what we hoped for and he fell to us. [General manager] Joe [Schoen] and I were, we were giddy. I think we were kind of beside ourselves. Some of you guys use words like that, 'giddy' and things like that. And we were because he's really a good player and he's all the other things, too. He's a great young man, he's humble, he's very tough, he works really hard, he's very coachable. He wants to do things the right way. He's a great leader in his own quiet way. Couldn't say enough about him but you know what, he's still young."

Skattebo 'should be full-go' for TNF

After running for a season-high 188 yards in the Week 7 win over the Texans, the Giants struggled to get the ground game going in Philadelphia. Five different players registered a rush attempt, and as a team, the Giants finished with just 80 yards on 31 carries, good for an average of 2.6 yards per carry.

The rushing attack was missing a few key players, though. Tyrone Tracy Jr. was placed on injured reserve after suffering a hamstring injury in that win in Houston, while Cam Skattebo also missed Week 9 due to a hamstring injury of his own. While Tracy will once again not be on the field for the Giants this week, Skattebo, who came close to getting cleared for the game in Philadelphia, is set to return.

"He was very close," Harbaugh said of the second-year back. "We just decided to not take the risk that would go with it. There were some things that he was going to be limited just a little bit maybe, and we decided not to go down that road because of the short week this week, so he should be full-go on Thursday night."

Greg Desrosiers Jr. made his NFL debut in the backfield this past Sunday and performed well in his limited action, picking up 20 yards on just three carries (6.7 avg.). Despite arriving only two weeks ago, the 25-year-old running back has made a good early impression on his new head coach.

"Greg got those carries, and really, you never know until a player gets out there, and we knew he was a fast, athletic guy, but it's hard to see in practice, but I thought he made some guys miss," Harbaugh said on Monday. "He got some extra yards. He protected the football. He ran hard. A really big sweep run toward the end there that got us a first down, I believe, if I remember right. Just I thought he played really good football for us, and that was a plus, big plus, and helps us. We're a better team for having brought him in here a couple weeks ago."

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

Keeping an eye on Daniels

When it comes to the run defense, the Giants did a good job of limiting their opponents' running backs for the second consecutive week. After Texans running back Woody Marks gained 66 yards on 19 carries (3.5 avg.) in Week 7, Eagles running backs Saquon Barkley and Elijah Mitchell combined for just 28 yards on 16 carries, an average of just 1.8 yards per carry, although Barkley did manage to get in the end zone.

That part was encouraging. However, if you look at the final box score, the Eagles finished with 92 yards on the ground. That is because quarterback Joe Milton III added 64 yards on only nine carries as he averaged over 7.0 yards per attempt. As good as the defense has played this season, the unit has struggled at times with containing opposing quarterbacks using their legs. Back in Week 6, Saints quarterback Tyler Shough carried the ball five times for 32 yards and a touchdown.

In terms of mobile quarterbacks, this week's matchup might just be the toughest for the Giants defense. Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has proven throughout his young NFL career to be one of the league's best running quarterbacks. Over his last three games, Daniels has only rushed for 49 yards on 10 carries. However, in the first meeting between the two teams, the third-year signal-caller gashed the defense for 103 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries (11.4 avg.). Making sure Daniels doesn't beat them with his legs will be near the top of the list of the defense's priorities on Thursday.

The defense did a good job of getting pressure on Daniels in the first matchup. The Giants sacked the third-year quarterback five times back in Week 5, the most he's been sacked in a game since Week 15 of the 2024 season. Cornerback Dru Phillips led the way with two sacks, while Reese and Abdul Carter recorded one apiece. Speaking of Carter, his 2.46-second average time to pressure is the quickest among all edge rushers with at least 10 pressures. Meanwhile, Reese has turned 32.1 percent of his pressures into sacks, the highest among linebackers with 10 or more pressures, while his 4.5 sacks is tied for the most at the linebacker position.

The Giants are set to wear their "Vintage White" uniforms and fans are strongly encouraged to wear white to the game to "White Out" MetLife Stadium.

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White Out Game for Giants vs. Commanders on TNF

The New York Giants are calling on fans to help create a "White Out" environment at MetLife Stadium when they take on the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football, Nov. 12 at 8:15 p.m.

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