The New York Giants face a Washington Commanders team on Sunday that has gotten off to a rocky start to the season. In an NFC East where no team appears to be dominant, though, that isn’t a death-knell. Let’s learn more about the Commanders in our ‘5 questions’ segment, with Andrew York of Hogs Haven as our huckleberry.
Ed: How disappointing is the 1-3 start? Is there still belief that if Jayden Daniels can come back and stay healthy the Commanders can make noise in an up-for-grabs NFC East?
Andrew: It’s terribly disappointing, but it’s not just the fact that the team is losing games, it’s that they’re constantly losing players to injury too. A loss can be overcome with
a win next week, but losing core players makes even a win next week harder. It’s also tough for fans that it feels like we’re re-living the injury-plagued 2025 season again, when we were hoping for something closer to 2024. That being said, the team has looked better and deeper than they did at this same point in 2025. Last year, an injury to Terry McLaurin was enough to collapse the entire passing game. This year, players like Stefon Diggs and Antonio Williams can pick up the slack. The same is true for several other position groups, but it’s only possible to have so much depth, so I hope the pace of injuries can become more normal. Even without the two best starters on the OL (Laremy Tunsil and Sam Cosmi), the team was able to protect and score against the Seahawks’ elite defense in Week 3.
That said, fans are anxiously awaiting the return of Jayden Daniels. He had a strong training camp and looked really effective and efficient in Week 2 vs the Cowboys right up until he was injured. Despite the injuries, I think the overall roster now is better than it was in 2024, so there’s absolutely a belief that a healthy Jayden Daniels could reverse the team’s fortunes.and get them back into a winning record. As you said, it’s still early in the season and the division is up for grabs.
Ed: What are your impressions thus far of Sonny Styles? I thought the Giants might select him if the draft had fallen a different way. No one in New York is unhappy with Arvell Reese, I know that much.
Andrew: Sonny Styles has been amazing and already looks like he’ll be a star on defense for many years to come. At first in the preseason, he seemed a bit hesitant and afraid to trust his first read, but quickly improved his reaction time and his tremendous athletic measurables have really shown up. He’s been a very strong tackler showing sideline-to-sideline speed and can limit runs anywhere on the field. He’s also shown to be very good in coverage, like this play where he ran step-for-step with Seahawks RB Jadarian Price to break up a pass. He’s also shown to be a dangerous blitzer, like in this play where he ran straight through Saquon Barkley to sack Jalen Hurts. He’s good at everything you’d want a linebacker to do and hasn’t shown any obvious weaknesses.
In addition to his presence in games, I’ve also been impressed by how he carries and presents himself off the field. He seems very humble, serious, hard-working, and simply eager to be a good teammate and improve himself. He has a mindset that I think will age extremely well in the NFL. He actually reminds me of how Bobby Wagner spoke and acted when he was here, though without Wagner’s aura of accomplishment.
Ed: If you could take one player off the Giants’ roster and put him in Washington’s lineup, who would it be? Why?
Andrew: If we’re taking into account contract, age, etc, probably Arvell Reese. Linebacker isn’t exactly a need on the Commanders right now, but you can never have too many playmakers and he seems to already look like a star in the making. Most Commanders fans would probably say Malik Nabers and he would probably be a bigger long-term upgrade over the wide receiver group, but I’d be a bit worried about his injury history on a team that already has quite the problem with injuries.
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Ed: Who are a couple of players on the Commanders’ roster we may not know a lot about, but that we should be familiar with for Sunday?
Andrew: On offense, rookie wide receiver Antonio Williams was taken in the third round of this year’s draft. He’s a great route runner and seems to already understand a lot of the nuance of the WR position. As a result, he’s been getting more and more time on the field and it’s clear the staff trust him. Williams went from a 28.9% route share in Week 1 to leading the team in routes run in Week 4, so his role keeps increasing in the offense.
On defense, I’ll go with cornerback Amik Robertson. He’s a 5-foot-9 stick of dynamite who flies all over the field making plays and plays much bigger than his size. He’s sticky in coverage, but also a physical and sure tackler and a decent blitzer. He’s also got a swagger and energy that seems infectious. He signed as a free agent from the Lions this offseason and is our most playmaking CB.
Ed: I see this as a 50-50 game, whatever the oddsmakers say. If the Giants are going to win it, how should they plan on attacking the Commanders?
Andrew: To attack the defense, I would plan to go passing heavy to exploit the defensive back group, which is probably the weakest position group on the Commanders roster. Play 3- or even 4-wide receiver sets (forcing Washington’s worst personnel on the field) and layer their routes to hit all areas of the field, expecting a coverage bust somewhere. The trick here is to protect your quarterback well enough to enable him to have time to throw. Dallas and Seattle had good enough pass protection that they could air out the ball to the tune of 279 passing yards and 379 passing yards against us respectively. In weeks 1-3, the Commanders run defense had been stout, as seems to be a hallmark of this Brian Flores-style Daronte Jones defense. The defense allowed a lot more rushing in Week 4, but I think that’s only because they were on the field all of the time once Mariota got injured and the defensive players got gassed.
To attack the offense (and assuming Jayden Daniels is starting for Washington), I would use a QB spy to limit Jayden’s rushing and only rush four, dropping the rest back in coverage. Jayden has been very good at reading the blitz and throwing quickly or using his legs to avoid it, so dropping more back in coverage and shifting coverages has generally been more effective at preventing him from making a play.
