Well, the New York Giants have still not beaten Jayden Daniels, and they put forth an embarrassing performance in front of their home fans in losing to the Washington Commanders, 24-21. This was a game the Giants had in the palm of their hands and let slip away. Let’s mention a few things they did wrong and right in this game.
John Harbaugh (and his offensive staff) are too conservative
Harbaugh has done a lot right in leading the Giants to first place in the NFC East. But sometimes I feel that he is not honest about the team he has. Harbaugh wants to be the coach
of a dominating running team. The Giants as currently constituted are not that, yet he (and Matt Nagy) play it conservatively until they can’t, and then they still do anyway. He decides not to change place kickers, but after Dominic Zvada misses a 32-yard chip shot, that’s it for the night, and when the Giants get down to the 32-yard line, they punt on fourth down rather than attempting a 50-yard field goal.
Nonetheless, the Giants manage to take a 21-17 lead late in the game. The Commanders drive and Jayden Daniels takes an end zone shot and is intercepted on a beautiful play by Jevon Holland. Unfortunately the INT occurs at the 2-yard line, putting the Giant in a hole. Two Cam Skattebo running plays later, it’s third-and-1, and Harbaugh tries another Jameis Winston sneak to get the first and fails. Eventually, after a ridiculous attempt to draw Washington offside (as if they would really believe he’d try to run a play that deep in his own territory with the game on the line), and an unnecessary delay of game penalty resulting from that, Jordan Stout bails him out once again with a 68-yard punt that backs Washington up to its own 37.
The Giants get the ball back at the Washington 46 with 2:15 left, and Harbaugh tries to run out the clock as much as he can and make the Commanders use their timeouts while doing so. The problem is that he doesn’t have Derrick Henry, Ronnie Stanley, and Tyler Linderbaum on this team. He has one of the worst run blocking offensive lines in the NFL and a good but not great running back. Skattebo gains 7 of the 10 yards he needs to effectively close out the game on first and second down, and then with third-and-3, rather than have J.J. McCarthy pass to get the first down and seal the win, the Giants dial up another of those J.J. RPOs that I think have not yet worked even once. McCarthy loses yards, the Giants punt from the Washington 39 (that’s two punts from inside the opponent’s 40), and predictably, Jayden Daniels drives the Commanders downfield for the winning score.
Playing to win can mean running the ball with a lead when you have a dominant run game. When you don’t have a dominant running the game, running the ball just serves to take a little time off the clock and make your opponent use a time out or two. When your opponent is a quarterback as dangerous as Jayden Daniels and your running game is mediocre at best, the play should be to be aggressive.
Will Deonte Banks ever learn to turn his head?
Banks has thrived under Dennard Wilson after looking like he was on his way out the door. Yet he continuous to have one serious weakness. Last week in Philadelphia, he got beaten on a deep route, never turned his head to locate the ball, and ran into the receiver, a flag that will be thrown every time. That led to an Eagles TD.
Tonight he did exactly the same thing again. With 1:46 left and the Giants still ahead, Daniels threw deep to Treylon Burks and again, Banks ran into him. It was an iffy call, since it appeared that Burks at the same time was pulling Banks toward him, but when you don’t turn your head, you’re always going to be the one that gets flagged.
That was one of two terrible defensive plays that cost the Giants the game. The other came on the very next play and was the game winner for Washington. Stefon Diggs, out of the slot, ran right down the middle and was wide open for the winning TD. Why was he so open? Because Dennard Wilson had Dru Phillips in the slot covering him. What? I love Dru’s hustle, his run defense, and in general his play around the line of scrimmage. But I think we are pretty sure, in his third year, that Dru cannot cover receivers of any kind downfield, much less an elite receiver like Diggs. With 1:06 left in the game the Commanders trailing, and third down, I think we can be pretty sure the play is not going to be a run or a short pass. What is Phillips doing on the field in that situation?
Ar’Darius Washington becomes a Giant
There were bright spots for the Giants’ defense in this game. Jevon Holland made a great interception on a pass to Chig Okonkwo that would have been the TD that put the Commanders ahead in the fourth quarter. The other Giants defensive player who stood out, though, was Ar’Darius Washington. I was intrigued when the Giants signed him, a low-key smart kind of move that doesn’t make headlines but winds up being a good decision.
Up to now my intrigue had not been justified. Washington wasn’t playing a lot and wasn’t doing anything notable when he was in there. Tonight, though, he made two great defensive plays. In the fourth quarter, with the Giants still trailing 17-14, Washington drove to the Giants’ 33 and were on the verge of putting the game away. Then on third and 4, Daniels completed a pass to Okonkwo that looked as if it would go for a first down, but Washington tackled him two yards short. Then on fourth down, the Commanders went for it, and Washington broke up the pass to Stefon Diggs. Three plays and one beautiful J.J. McCarthy 66-yard TD pass to Isaiah Likely later, the Giants had the lead:
Can anyone explain to me why Dru was in the game rather than Ar’Darius on Washington’s winning TD drive?
It takes J.J. McCarthy a little while to warm up
Last week I started to worry about J.J. McCarthy. He came out of the gate slowly against the Eagles and it wasn’t until later in the game that he warmed up a bit. Eventually he wound up having a pretty good game, but in fact it was Jameis Winston who led the Giants on the TD drive that turned the game.
Tonight it looked to me as if J.J. was having similar problems. If his first read wasn’t open, he didn’t seem to be moving on to his next read and finding answers. He did eventually get the Giants’ offense going in the second quarter, leading them on a 16-play, 72-yard TD drive to put the Giants ahead 7-3, but that drive was all rushes, short passes, and J.J. scrambles and keepers.
Finally in the third quarter, McCarthy started to show some of the things that made him a high first round pick and allowed him to excite Giants fans in the New Orleans and Houston games. The Giants got the ball at the Washington 46 after a punt, and McCarthy layered a beautiful pass over the first level of pass defenders to Malachi Fields to the 30. That drive ended in a Skattebo TD that put the Giants head 14-10.
Then later in the third quarter, after Daniels had driven the Commanders to a TD and a 17-14 lead, McCarthy led the Giants on a 73-yard TD drive to put them ahead 21-17. The key play on that drive was a 37-yard pass play to Malik Nabers, again layered over the first level of defenders, to get the Giants down to the Washington 36. McCarthy completed a 16-yard pass to Malachi Fields after that and then another short one to Nabers, who fumbled (this is becoming an increasing problem for him).
In the end, McCarthy completed 23 of 36 for 293 yards. He did have an interception, but overall it was a pretty good performance. Ever since the Giants acquired him, I have been looking for signs of why Kevin O’Connell was willing to give up on him so quickly and for so little when the Vikings didn’t have an obvious alternative on their roster. My all-too-early impression is that he is having difficulty deciphering defenses early on in games but gets there eventually and can be pretty effective after that. Tonight, he did enough to get the Giants a win. Too bad the coaches blew it for him.
