Good morning, New York Giants fans! Here are the stories you need to know this weekend.
Giants embrace upcoming gauntlet: ‘We want all the smoke’ | NJ.com
The Giants will be rooting hard for the 49ers this weekend. That’s because if the Cowboys somehow beat San Francisco, they’ll move closer to the Giants in the NFC East race.
The Giants are 5-3-1 after Thursday night’s 24-21 gut-punch loss to the Commanders. Coach John Harbaugh’s team remains alone atop the division, ahead of the 4-5 Cowboys and 3-5-1 Commanders (who now have the head-to-head tiebreaker edge over
the Giants).
On to the next one
Why J.J. McCarthy kept chucking ball downfield before game-sealing interception in Giants’ crushing loss | New York Post
Quarterback J.J. McCarthy certainly shouldn’t shoulder all the blame, but an interception with 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter sealed the loss and gave the Commanders the tiebreaker over the Giants after the two teams tied in Week 5. Despite being at the Washington 48-yard line with 40 seconds remaining and needing only a field goal, McCarthy threw deep on his final two passes. The first fell to the turf for an incomplete pass, and the second was intended for Malik Nabers but instead landed in Rasul Douglas’ arms to end the Giants’ comeback attempt.
“My thought process was pop it up to my playmakers, have them go make a play,” McCarthy said.
What we saw as NY Giants fail to seal the deal against Commanders | The Record
For the first time all season, the New York Giants failed to deliver with the lead in the fourth quarter and the game on the line.
Jayden Daniels’ third touchdown pass, this one to Stefon Diggs, as two Giants defenders ran into each other with 57 seconds remaining allowed Washington to snap Big Blue’s two-game winning streak with a 24-21 victory at MetLife Stadium.
Cam Skattebo scores twice after Giants’ quiet trade deadline, but wonders if he could’ve done more in loss to Commanders | New York Daily News
But after the Giants’ offense stagnated down the stretch of a 24-21 loss — with Jameis Winston and J.J. McCarthy both getting stopped on third-down QB keepers — Skattebo was left wondering if he could have done more. “It sucks, and I think part of it is I put myself in a situation last time we played these guys that kind of killed the trust in Coach [John Harbaugh] maybe a little bit, of giving up the ball last time,” Skattebo said. “And maybe he didn’t want to give me the ball again. I don’t know. I’m not gonna say that was something that he was thinking, but I would think that as well.”
Skattebo followed with runs of five and two yards, setting up a crucial 3rd and 3. But on a designed QB run, McCarthy was tackled by Sonny Styles behind the line of scrimmage, prompting another Giants punt. Asked if he felt he could have led the Giants into field-goal range had he gotten the ball, Skattebo replied, “I can’t say that. Do I think that? Yeah, but I can’t say that, because it could’ve been any situation at any time.”
New York Giants slam ‘corny’ DPI penalty called on Deonte Banks | USAToday.com
“This league is funny, bro,” said Safety Tyler Nubin. “This league is funny. There’s really nothing you can do about it, man. When you’re in trail position, nine times out of 10, they’re going to call that PI. That’s just how the league is. Just got to weather it.”
“I’m going to be honest, and I ain’t going to say nothing that gets me fined,” Safety Jason Pinnock said. “But it’s getting to a point now where [offensive coordinators] are taking advantage of it. They’re not calling real plays. They’re going four wide, and they’re throwing that junk outside. And it looks like these receivers literally have techniques to get PIs. They’re grabbing the back of DBs’ necks. It’s almost like it’s becoming a technique.”
The window that J.J. McCarthy put this in….
2026 NFL midseason award rankings: MVP picks, top rookies, OPOY, DPOY, coaches | ESPN.com
Defensive Rookie of the Year. 1. Arvell Reese, LB/Edge, New York Giants. Picking between Bailey and Reese is unfair. I leaned Reese if only because he has been two impactful players in one this season. As an off-ball linebacker, Reese has been all over the place for a Giants team that has been better against the run this season, even after trading Dexter Lawrence II. Reese has made tackles on 15.3% of his snaps, the eighth-highest rate in the league. He has given up an 81.3 passer rating in coverage, a very credible number for a veteran linebacker, let alone a rookie just getting his feet wet at this level.
And then there’s Reese’s side quest as a devastating force on blitzes. Despite rushing the quarterback only about 11 times per game, Reese already has 4.5 sacks and 14 pressures. His 10.2% quick pressure rate would be the second-best mark in the NFL if he qualified. And the average Reese pressure comes after 2.44 seconds, the fifth fastest among players with 10 pressures or more.
NFL midseason superlatives and lessons: Josh Allen for MVP, all-in moves, dashed hopes | The Athletic
Defensive rookie of the year – LB Arvell Reese, New York Giants. The No. 5 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft has racked up 4.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, 49 solo tackles (68 total), a forced fumble and an interception for the surprising Giants.
Coach of the Year — John Harbaugh, New York Giants. Ben Johnson continues to lead an impressive Chicago Bears team, and Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers rank among the Super Bowl favorites. But with the Giants unexpectedly leading their division and contending for their first playoff berth since the 2022 season — with a backup quarterback, no less — Harbaugh gets the nod.
2026 NFL DROY Odds: Which New York Rookie Has The Edge? | FOX Sports
Arvell Reese has jumped David Bailey on the odds board and sits at +100 after Week 9. The Giants rookie was drafted with the fifth pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and so far, he’s exceeding those expectations. Through nine weeks, Reese is second in the entire NFL in solo tackles (49) and leads the Giants’ defense in total tackles as a rookie. Reese joined Nick Bosa (2019) as the only players in the last 25 seasons with at least four sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in their first eight career games. It looks like the G-Men have finally found a guy they can build their defense around for the next decade.
NFL midseason awards: The good, the bad and the Dallas Cowboys | Yahoo! Sports
The ‘Chicken Salad from Chicken S**t’ Award: New York Giants. Boy, the Giants were feeling fine after their Week 1 win over Dallas. And just as quickly, hopes deflated when Jaxson Dart went down with a season-ending injury in Week 2. But somehow, the Giants have cobbled together win after win, using quarterback after quarterback, and suddenly they’re dangerous. Granted, it’s a “is that stray dog going to beg for food or bite my face?” kind of dangerous, but it’s better than nothing.
From Big Blue View
- ‘Things I think’: Giants have themselves to blame for squandered opportunity
- Giants-Commanders ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’: New York misses an opportunity
- Giants-Commanders: 5 plays that led to the loss
- 4 things we learned from the Giants’ 24-21 loss to the Commanders
- PFF grades and advanced stats from the Giants’ loss to the Commanders
- Giants-Commanders: Immediate positional grades for Week 10
- Malik Nabers ‘not really aware’ of where Washington DB was on decisive interception
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