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Storylines to follow in Giants vs. Commanders

WANDALE-COMMANDERS-STORYLINES

The New York Giants will hit the road for their first away game of the season when they travel to take on the Washington Commanders this Sunday.

The NFC East rivals are looking to rebound from their respective Week 1 losses. The Giants fell to the Minnesota Vikings, 28-6, at MetLife Stadium while the Commanders went down to Tampa Bay and lost to the Buccaneers, 37-20.

The Giants won each of the two meetings between the division rivals last year, and enter this week's game with a 3-0-1 record against the Commanders over the last two seasons.

Here are storylines to follow in the Week 2 matchup.

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."

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

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 is Daniel Jones owns a 5-1-1 career record against the Commanders with 10 passing touchdowns to just three interceptions, earning the sixth-year quarterback a 98.0 passer rating. He will look to rebound from last week's two-interception performance against the Vikings. In last week's game, the Commanders allowed Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield to complete 80 percent of his passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns, along with three rushing attempts for an additional 21 yards.

"He's someone that I talk to every day," Daboll said about Jones. "We talk about the discipline to do things right on and off the field like he always does, having a positive attitude regardless of situation. It's never easy when you lose a game, or you don't play well, or you don't coach well. That's the National Football League. This is 24 years into it. There's not much of that I haven't experienced. So, keeping a positive attitude, doing the things that you need to do each and every week to prepare for a game, which he'll do. And then handling things with the right mindset. Be able to persevere through things, let your passion show, have competitive stamina. Mental toughness is a real thing. Focus on the things that's important, which is what his coaches are teaching him to do, how he goes out and practices with the right mindset. That's what you do with every player, with every coach."

"Definitely some things to clean up and do better," Jones added about the season opener. "Some missed opportunities. I think overall just playing quicker, being cleaner with my feet. Definitely some things to clean up and I'll look to do that."

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. 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.

Sunday's game could also be a prime opportunity for wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson. The third-year wideout primarily lines up in the slot, where he will be matched up against rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil, who gave up four receptions on five targets for 50 yards and two touchdowns in his NFL debut last week. Fellow starting corner Benjamin St-Juste surrendered six receptions on eight targets for 53 yards and two touchdowns against the Buccaneers.

Stepping up on defense

Sam Darnold opened Week 1 with 12 straight completions against the Giants, finishing 19 of 24 for over 200 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, while Aaron Jones averaged nearly seven yards per carry. Minnesota was also able to convert on both of their trips inside the red zone. However, there were some positives for the defense.

According to Next Gen Stats, the Giants featured a four-man rush on 77 percent of Darnold's dropbacks. On those plays, the Giants generated a 45.0 percent pressure rate, the third-highest among any team in the league in Week 1. The team's 42.3 percent quarterback pressure rate overall ranked as the fifth-highest in the NFL. While that only resulted in one sack in the season opener, it should lead to better results moving forward. Dexter Lawrence led the way with seven pressures on 20 pass rush snaps, resulting in a single-game career-best 35.0 percent pressure rate, while Brian Burns ranked second with five pressures and a 27.8 percent quarterback pressure rate.

Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was pressured on 61.5 percent of his dropbacks in the first half of last week's game, despite getting rid of the ball at an average of just 2.27 seconds. This played a part in Tampa Bay jumping out to a 16-7 halftime lead. Daniels finished the game with a 38.2 pressure rate, which was the seventh-highest among all quarterbacks in Week 1. The Giants will look to their pass rush to take advantage of a positive matchup against the Commanders' offensive line, particularly Kayvon Thibodeaux. The third-year outside linebacker has 5.5 sacks (out of his career 15.5 sacks), seven tackles for loss, 26 total tackles, and eight quarterback hits in four games against Washington, all of which are easily the most he's had against any team.

"I think he's a good football player," Daboll said about Washington's rookie quarterback. "He's athletic. He's dynamic with the ball in his hands, whether it's a passer or a runner. But again, this is more about the Washington offense in general. They played a good Tampa Bay team. Tampa Bay played well. He's a rookie quarterback that definitely did some good things that you saw from college on tape. He had 88 yards, 70 yards on scrambles, throws the ball well, but it's more about getting ready to play their entire offense."

The other encouraging stat from the Giants defense was its performance on third down. Despite Minnesota's overall success on offense, the Giants were able to limit them to just three conversions on 10 third down attempts. This was a promising sign from a unit that ranked ninth in the NFL in third down defense last year. On the other sideline, the Commanders converted on just two of eight third down attempts against the Buccaneers last week.

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.

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.

Injury & roster updates

Daboll announced that four players would not participate in the first practice of the week Wednesday.

Wide receiver Gunner Olszewski injured his groin during pregame warmups Sunday and will be out for "weeks." Meanwhile, cornerback Nick McCloud and rookie linebacker Darius Muasau are both dealing with knee injuries and are "day-to-day," while wide receiver Darius Slayton is in the concussion protocol.

Muasau started in place of Micah McFadden, who was limited in practice throughout the week heading into the opener. Daboll said after the game that McFadden, who didn't play at all in Week 1, would have been on a snap count if he did take the field, but they decided to ride the strong play of the rookie linebacker instead. McFadden was back on the practice field Wednesday and listed as a full participant.

"I expect him to take the reps today at practice that he needs to take," Daboll said about McFadden.

Slayton is currently working through the protocol, although Daboll said the wideout has not yet begun physical activity.

"I think concussions are different for every player," Daboll told the media Wednesday. "I think every guy is different. There's been progress, but again, I don't think you mess around with those type of things. He won't do anything today. Each day they come in, they get tested, they go through things. I'm sure if he passes protocol and all that stuff, then he'll be ready to go, but those head injuries are tricky injuries. I don't want to take those lightly."

The Giants have also made a series of roster moves over the last few days. The team filled out the final two spots on the 53-man roster with fullback/tight end Jakob Johnson and wide receiver/return specialist Ihmir Smith-Marsette.

The Giants also re-signed linebacker Curtis Bolton to the practice squad, in addition to guard Cade Mays. In corresponding moves, linebacker Carter Coughlin was placed on the practice squad injured list while offensive tackle Marcellus Johnson was released from the practice squad.

View photos of every move made by the Giants during the 2024 cycle.