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5 players to watch in NFC East matchup

PLAYERS-TO-WATCH-WEEK-15

Fresh off the bye, the Giants will take on the Commanders at MetLife Stadium this Sunday in what could be the team's first home weather game of the season.

The NFC East rivals find themselves in somewhat similar situations heading into Week 15. The Giants have dropped seven consecutive games and currently sit at 2-11, while the Commanders, after a 3-2 start to the season, have lost eight straight outings to drop to 3-10.

After losing 27-26 in overtime to the Broncos in Week 13, the Commanders went on the road and were shut out 31-0 by the Vikings in a game that saw Jayden Daniels aggravate the elbow injury that sidelined him for a month.

The Giants have an opportunity to close out the season strong in this final stretch with three of four games at MetLife Stadium and three games against teams with a losing record.

Here are five players to watch in the Week 15 divisional matchup.

QB Jaxson Dart

Jaxson Dart returned to action against the Patriots in Week 13 after missing two games with a concussion. The rookie signal-caller completed just over 70 percent of his passes for 139 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a passer rating of 99.1, the third-highest mark of his eight starts. He added 20 yards on the ground but on just four carries, the lowest number of rushing attempts in his eight starts. It was his first start since all the way back in Week 5 in which he did not account for multiple touchdowns.

The Commanders' defense has been attacked both on the ground and through the air this season. The unit ranks 30th in passing yards and 28th in passing touchdowns allowed, while their six interceptions are tied for the fifth-fewest. While they did hold Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy to just 163 passing yards last week, they allowed him to throw for three touchdowns with no turnovers. Prior to Week 14, Washington had surrendered over 300 passing yards in three of their previous four games. The Commanders' opponents have an average passer rating of 109.7, the highest in the NFL.

See the top photos from practice as the Giants prepare for their Week 15 matchup against the Commanders.

RB Tyrone Tracy Jr.

The last time we saw the Giants take the field, Tyrone Tracy Jr. was forced out of the game early due to a hip injury. However, it appears as if Tracy has put the injury behind him as he has been a full participant in the first two practices of the week. Prior to departing, the second-year back had recorded 10 rush attempts for 36 yards.

Despite leaving early, Tracy racked up double-digit touches for the fifth time over the last six games, which coincides with Cam Skattebo's season-ending injury. In the three games prior to the matchup in Foxborough, Tracy had run for at least 62 yards in each outing. In fact, between the outings against the Packers and Lions in Weeks 11 and 12, the 26-year-old had back-to-back games with 130+ total yards of offense.

The Commanders' defense has allowed 160 or more rushing yards in three of their last four games, which has played a significant role in the unit ranking 29th in rushing yards and 26th in yards per attempt allowed. Vikings running backs Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason and Zavier Scott combined for 143 rushing yards last week with an average of 5.1 yards per carry.

TE Theo Johnson

Theo Johnson matched his season-high targets with eight on Monday Night Football. Unfortunately, only three of those eight passes turned into receptions, which the second-year tight end took for 29 yards. Over the last four games, Johnson has registered two games with 75 or more receiving yards and two games with 36 or fewer receiving yards. He is also in his longest scoring drought of the season having not found the end zone over the last four games. However, Johnson has a great opportunity to turn his fortunes around on Sunday.

Through the first 13 games of the season, the Commanders have allowed opposing tight ends to rack up 798 receiving yards against them, or 61.4 yards per game, which ranks as the ninth most of any defense in the NFL. Things get even worse for the Washington defense when it comes to keeping tight ends out of the end zone, as they have given up nine touchdowns to the position, the second-most of any team. One-third of that damage came last week as Vikings tight ends Josh Oliver and T.J. Hockenson were on the receiving end of all three of McCarthy's touchdown passes.

OLB Brian Burns

For the first time all season, Brian Burns was held without a sack for back-to-back games when he was unable to get to Drake Maye in Week 13. Despite not recording a sack, Burns was still able to total one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit and three pressures against the Patriots. Heading into Week 15, the veteran outside linebacker comes in at No. 2 on the NFL's sack leaderboard with 13 on the season, although Cleveland's Myles Garrett has widened his lead with 20 sacks.

Burns had just two total pressures in the Week 1 matchup against the Commanders, albeit both went for sacks. Similar to the season opener, Burns is likely to match up for most of the game against right tackle Josh Conerly Jr. The rookie is credited with six sacks and 35 total pressures allowed this season, although four of the sacks and 11 of the pressures came in the first two weeks of the season. Over his last 11 games, Conerly has played much better with just two sacks and 24 pressures allowed. According to Pro Football Focus, he has not been credited with a sack surrendered since Week 8. Additionally, in his nine games (six starts) this season, Marcus Mariota has not been sacked more than twice in any outing.

OLB Abdul Carter

The last time the Giants took the field, Abdul Carter's night produced mixed feelings. The rookie outside linebacker was benched for the first quarter of the Monday night matchup against the Patriots for a disciplinary matter that interim head coach Mike Kafka said was his decision. This was the second time in three games that Carter was not on the field with the rest of the defense to start the game.

But once he took the field, Carter put together perhaps the best game of his rookie season. The 22-year-old racked up six total pressures in the final three quarters, including the first full sack of his NFL career. It was the first time Carter got a sack since his half-sack in the season opener. The No. 3 overall pick now has nine total pressures and four quarterback hits over his last two games as he looks to keep his strong play going in the final month of the season. Heading into Week 15, Carter ranks ninth among all edge rushers in pass rush win rate at 18 percent, according to ESPN Analytics.

Kayvon Thibodeaux has yet to practice this week, which means Carter could be primarily lining up on the right edge against the Commanders. That means he'll see a lot of Commanders left tackle Laremy Tunsil on Sunday. Tunsil surrendered a sack to the Giants in the season opener, and since then, the veteran tackle has allowed only one additional sack along with 14 total pressures. Tunsil is ranked as PFF's No. 3 offensive tackle in pass protection this season and No. 8 tackle overall. The rookie outside linebacker will have his hands full going up against Tunsil.

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

Screenshot 2025-08-01 at 3.36.49 PM

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