The New York Giants face the Washington Commanders on Thursday, the second and final meeting of the season between the two NFC East teams. We turn to Andrew York of Hogs Haven to answer our ‘5 questions’.
Ed: How have the Commanders moved on from the dysfunctional way that the Week 5 game against the Giants ended? Is there still a hangover from that?
Andrew: It’s funny, because the Giants fumbled away a chance at the win in overtime when they could have made a field goal to win, yet all the media scrutiny seemed to be on the Commanders… However, I’d agree that the decision making around the very last play drew lots of justified criticism on both
the Commanders coaching and Jayden Daniels for not having better situational awareness. It was followed up with a similar end-of-game play against the 49ers the very next week that drew criticism of both the coaches and Jayden Daniels. I think that double whammy got people looking at everything a bit more closely, but it’s really just been a litany of questionable decisions (mostly with the coaching and offensive playcalling) over multiple games that has Commanders fans unhappy with their play on the field. Most of the scrutiny has been on OC David Blough, who skipped a few grade levels going from Assistant QB Coach to OC when maybe he needed more time to learn his craft. I honestly put that more on Dan Quinn for promoting him too quickly though, I wouldn’t expect anyone to do well with that big of a promotion.
Ed: Jameis Winston was the Giants’ quarterback in Week 5. Now, it will be J.J. McCarthy. Does that change anything for the Commanders?
Andrew: From a gameplanning standpoint, sure, mainly in that McCarthy is a mobile QB and the defense will have to account for his scrambles. McCarthy also seems to have done a better job throwing deep this year. However, those are just things they’ll have to account for in the gameplan. I don’t think it provides more of a challenge over QBs like Brock Purdy that they’ve already faced. His mobility might be the biggest challenge, as the Commanders allowed Jalen Hurts to scramble for 46 yards earlier this year, getting several critical first downs.
Ed: Can Dan Quinn possibly keep his job if this turns into a four- or five-win season for the Commanders?
Andrew: I don’t think so. The biggest problem for the Commanders seems to be coaching, with the most yards erased by penalty in the NFL, slow playcalls and players taking too much time to get into position, and regular mistakes in situational awareness and game management that lose games. The defense has looked better coached the last few games with the addition of Steve Wilks as a defensive consultant, but it speaks very poorly of Dan Quinn (a supposedly defensive head coach) that he had to bring in an external defensive consultant to improve the defense mid-season.
Ed: I can’t ask you my “which Giants player would you take for the Commanders” question since we did that a couple of weeks ago. Let me ask this: Which Giants star player do you fear more — Arvell Reese or Malik Nabers?
Andrew: I suppose Arvell Reese simply for the fact that he can directly injure Jayden Daniels on a play, whereas that’s not very likely for Nabers. Keeping Jayden healthy and getting him more experience should be one of the top priorities for a team that is on the outside looking in for any sort of relevance in the postseason.
Ed: NFL teams change constantly. How have the Commanders changed since Week 5, and have those changes made them better or worse?
Andrew: There are two big ways they’ve changed, one negative and one positive. In terms of the negative, they’re more injured. Terry McLaurin suffered a patellar tendon tear and may never be the same player again. DTs Javon Kinlaw and Daron Payne have both gone on IR and are likely done for the year. RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt has gone on IR and won’t be back for a few weeks. That’s $74M in salary cap on injured reserve.
On the positive side, the defense looks better coached. This largely coincides with the hiring of Steve Wills as a defensive consultant several weeks ago, as mentioned earlier. For some reason, the Commanders didn’t fire or hire any defensive position coaches in the offseason, despite hiring a new defensive coordinator. That means DC Daronte Jones didn’t get to bring staff with him that knew his scheme and instead had to work with the terrible defensive position coaches that coached a historically bad defense last year. Wilks has seemed to help with teaching the defense (and particularly the secondary) their responsibilities, which has resulted in fewer players looking confused and out of place after giving up big plays. The defense looked better coached the last few games, here’s hoping it continues.
