Skip to main content
New York Giants homepage
Advertising

Giants News | New York Giants – Giants.com

Players to Watch

Presented by

Players to watch in Week 5 NFC East matchup

PLAYERS-TO-WATCH-WEEK-5

The Giants will look to extend their win streak to three when they travel to Landover, Maryland for a Week 5 matchup against the Commanders.

Following their Week 2 loss in Los Angeles, the Giants picked up back-to-back victories at MetLife Stadium to bring their record to 3-1 on the season. Both wins saw the defense come up with big plays in the final seconds to seal each victory. It began with Jevón Holland's interception of Titans quarterback Cam Ward in Week 3, and continued this past Sunday with Deonte Banks' interception return for a touchdown against Jacoby Brissett and the Cardinals.

The Commanders traveled to London last week for a matchup against the Colts. Already down Jayden Daniels, Washington saw Marcus Mariota leave the game early with a knee injury, leading to third-string quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis playing a majority of the game. The Commanders went on to lose 30-12, but with Daniels returning to practice in a full capacity on Wednesday and Thursday, the Commanders will get their starting signal-caller back for this divisional matchup.

Here are players to watch in the NFC East showdown.

QB Jameis Winston

It wasn't a perfect performance, but Winston looked more like his usual self in the Week 4 win over the Cardinals. The veteran quarterback completed 18 of 29 passes (62.1 percent) for 250 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, which earned him a passer rating of 95.5. Perhaps the most encouraging part of Winston's performance was his downfield throwing. On his six pass attempts of 20+ air yards, Winston completed five of them for 166 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a perfect passer rating of 158.3.

The 32-year-old now faces a great opportunity to build off of last week's success with a matchup against the Commanders defense. Washington enters this game ranking 25th in passing yards and 30th in passing touchdowns allowed. Colts quarterback Daniel Jones was held out of the end zone last week, but in Week 3, Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold threw for 379 yards and four touchdowns against the Commanders.

View photos of the Giants on the practice field as they prepare for their Week 5 matchup against the Commanders.

TE Isaiah Likely

After a quiet Week 3 that saw him catch just two passes for 13 yards, Likely got back on track this past weekend. The tight end led the team with 12 targets, of which he caught seven of them for 66 yards. The Giants have done a good job of lining Likely up all over the field and using him in a variety of ways. In Week 4, he had multiple targets behind the line of scrimmage, on short routes (0-9 yards), on intermediate routes (10-19) and on deep routes (20+), which highlights the athletic tight end's versatility. Likely was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday and Thursday.

Heading into Week 5, Likely is tied for the third-most receptions among tight ends with 22. Meanwhile his 35 targets are the second-most at the position behind only Cardinals tight end Trey McBride. The Commanders have only given up 19 receptions to tight ends this season, one of the better marks across the NFL. However, those 19 receptions have consisted of some big plays. The unit's 243 receiving yards allowed to the position is the ninth-most of any team, while their five touchdowns to tight ends is tied for the second-most. In each of their first two NFC East matchups this season, the Commanders surrendered two touchdowns to Philadelphia's Dallas Goedert and two scores to Dallas' Jake Ferguson.

OLB Abdul Carter

Carter is coming off one of the best performances of his young NFL career. The second-year outside linebacker picked up three quarterback hits of Jacoby Brissett, but more importantly, he generated a career-high nine pressures on 37 pass rush snaps. Of those nine, eight were quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds), which was the most any player across the league has had in a game this season, according to Next Gen Stats. Additionally, Carter's 14 pass rush wins were also the most by a player in a game this season.

"Abdul, he was throwing his fastball all game," defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson told the media Thursday. "He was into it, high energy. We always talk about the ball finds energy. And the guys that play with great energy, it just seems so happens the ball just found them or they made plays in the game. So, I'm excited where he's at."

Brissett finished just six of 12 for 53 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions when pressured, most of which came from Carter. When looking at the tape from the defense's final goal line stand, Carter was in the backfield on all four plays. He will look to keep that going against a Commanders' offensive line that has done a relatively good job of keeping their quarterbacks upright this season. Between Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota and Athan Kaliakmanis, the three quarterbacks have been sacked just five times total.

It will be important for Carter and the rest of the pass rush to get pressure on Daniels this Sunday. In his limited action this season, Daniels has completed just eight of 21 passes for 69 yards and a 63.4 passer rating when facing pressure. Those numbers improve to 21 of 30 for 191 yards and a 109.2 passer rating when not pressured.

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

LB Arvell Reese

Reese has looked nothing short of dominant over his last two games. After racking up 13 total tackles (10 solo) against the Titans in Week 3, the rookie linebacker followed that up with nine solo tackles, including a tackle for loss, and three passes defensed, including an interception, against the Cardinals. He also pressured Brissett on the play that resulted in Greg Newsome II's interception at the start of the second quarter.

The No. 5 overall pick became the franchise's first rookie since tackles were officially tracked in 1994 to register nine tackles, three passes defensed and an interception in a game. He became only the third rookie in the NFL to do so since 2010, and the first linebacker ever. His play led to him being voted the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week, along with PFF naming him both the Rookie and Defensive Player of the Week. Going into Week 5, Reese leads the NFL with 27 solo tackles.

"Game four of his rookie year, you see the maturation already," Wilson said. "You see the impact that he's had on his defense. He's a guy that just loves football. He's tenacious about it. He doesn't want to be wrong. He's had some plays that he wished he had back, but he doesn't make those mistakes again. And when you see him, he is a force of nature when he's on the football field, and we expect him to keep getting better and better."

The Commanders enter this game ranking seventh in rushing attempts and eight in rushing yards on the season. Daniels' return should help the run game, as well, as the third-year quarterback carried the ball 12 times for 100 yards (8.3 avg.) prior to his injury in Week 2.

CB Deonte Banks

Rookie of the Week, meet NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Banks earned the conference's weekly honor with a standout performance against the Cardinals. Of course, he made the biggest play of the day with his game-sealing interception that he returned 98 yards for a touchdown. But Banks' strong outing went well beyond the one big splash play.

Banks finished the game with four passes defensed, which set a new career-high for the fourth-year cornerback. He was targeted nine times in coverage, according to PFF, and allowed just three receptions for 19 yards. This earned him a passer rating against of just 42.4. Two of Banks' pass breakups came when the defense needed it most, as he broke up a pass intended for Cardinals tight end Trey McBride on the play before his game-winning interception. Despite only playing in two games this season, Banks is tied for the fourth-most passes defensed in the league this year, and sits only one behind the league-lead.

Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin missed last week's game in London and has yet to practice this week due to a hamstring injury, which puts his status for Sunday up in the air. Joining McLaurin on the sideline for the second straight day was fellow wideout Stefon Diggs, who is also dealing with a hamstring injury. Through four games, Diggs leads the team with 18 receptions for 170 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receiver Antonio Williams could be poised for a bigger role if McLaurin and/or Diggs are unable to suit up. In the one full game he played with Daniels back in the season opener, the rookie receiver caught four passes for 64 yards and a touchdown.

26_SGT_Header

Single Game Tickets

Buy single game tickets to see the Giants live during the 2026 season

Related Content

Advertising