It’s week 5 of the NFL season, and the 1-3 Washington Commanders will be facing the 3-1 New York Giants at Northwest Stadium in Landover, MD this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET. The Giants lost starting QB Jaxson Dart in week 2 to a season-ending knee injury, yet have managed to persevere with backup Jameis Winston to lead the NFC East. Of course the biggest offseason changes to the Giants were on the coaching side, with the removal of Brian Daboll and his coaching staff and the arrival of John Harbaugh,
one of the most coveted head coaching candidates in the 2026 offseason.
The Giants offense is designed by a combination of OC Matt Nagy and “Senior Offensive Assistant” Greg Roman, though the plays are called by Nagy from the booth. It seems that the Giants have found a way to marry the run game of Greg Roman (featuring downhill gap power schemes and heavy use of QB mobility) with the passing game of Matt Nagy (featuring a West Coast Offense with spread elements and a heavy use of RPO to get the ball out quickly). The result has been an offense that grinds yards out slowly, but consistently, maintaining control of the ball, yet also gets the occasional deep pass to WR Malik Nabers, who caught 6-of-7 targets for 112 yards and a TD in week 4.
The offense is helmed by backup QB Jameis Winston after starting QB Jaxson Dart suffered a season-ending knee injury in week 2. Winston’s stats haven’t been great so far, with a 70.4 passer rating (29th in the NFL), a 10.34% sack percentage (29th in the NFL), and a 3.8% interception percentage (26th in the NFL). Overall, the Giants have the 26th-ranked offense in terms of yards gained (27th in passing yards, 12th in rushing yards). However, due to the grinding nature of their offense, the Giants have the 2nd-highest time of possession in the NFL.
On defense, the Giants are led by Dennard Wilson, former DC of the Tennessee Titans the past two years. You may also remember him as DB coach and passing game coordinator of the Eagles in 2021-2022 under Jonathon Gannon. Wilson runs a 3-4 defensive front with frequent use of simulated pressures, where more than 4 players line up close to the line of scrimmage to simulate rushing the QB, but several drop back into coverage at the snap so that only 4 actually rush, but from unexpected positions. In coverage, the Giants have a man-coverage rate of 26.3% (7th-highest in the NFL) and zone-coverage rate of 69.0% (7th-lowest in the NFL), with an emphasis on pressing at the line to disrupt WR routes. Overall, this is a defense that ranks 9th-best in yards allowed(with the 10th-fewest passing yards allowed and 16th-fewest rushing yards allowed).
I asked Ed Valentine of Big Blue View five questions to better understand the state of the Giants and what to look for in this game.
1) A lot of the Giants’ season is going to revolve around QB Jameis Winston and his ability to fill in for Jaxson Dart. What have you seen out of Jameis so far, and what do you think about what he brings to the table vs JJ McCarthy?
Jameis is Jameis. He was fantastic at times against the Cardinals, mystifyingly bad at other times. That’s how you throw for 250 yards with 3 TDs and 2 INTs. I’m going to discount Week 3 against Tennessee because that game was played in rain and high winds with gusts nearing 40 mph. He did not turn the ball over and the Giants won, despite not scoring a touchdown. So, you live with it.
Jameis brings experience and leadership. He was named to the team’s Leadership Council and voted as a team captain long before Dart was injured. How many backup quarterbacks are voted as a captain by teammates? If the Giants win enough games, it is going to be hard for John Harbaugh to justify replacing Winston with McCarthy. That said, if Winston’s turnovers hold the Giants back Harbaugh won’t hesitate to go to McCarthy.
Nobody really knows what the Giants will get out of McCarthy if and when he plays, but Harbaugh won’t sit around and watch the season go down the drain because Winston can’t, or won’t, protect the football.
2) The Giants are currently 3-1 and sitting atop the NFC East as division leaders. What are you most confident about with respect to the Giants and what are you most worried about heading into Sunday’s game?
Well, I know what the Giants are. They are a flawed team, but they play with physicality, resilience, a belief that they are good enough and have worked hard enough to deserve to win games. I worry about a lot of things because the Giants don’t have a massive margin for error. Mostly, I guess, you wonder how long the ride is going to last.
3) What is your overall opinion of John Harbaugh as a head coach so far and how has he changed the team?
Harbaugh’s time with the Baltimore Ravens ran its course. I get that. He has been the perfect coach at the perfect time for the Giants, though. They haven’t had a coach with this kind of credibility since Tom Coughlin. He is the first coach with a Super Bowl title elsewhere that they have ever hired. He brought a proven track record that created immediate credibility. He has brought expectations and standards the entire franchise needed, and has demanded the best work players could give every day.
I don’t know what the ceiling is for this team. I do know that Harbaugh isn’t going to accept anything less than the best everyone can do, and the franchise desperately needed that.
4) Who is one Giants player on offense and one player on defense that Washington fans probably don’t know much about, but should?
I don’t honestly know how many “unfamiliar” players the Giants use regularly. I will, though, give you a couple of players new to the Giants to be aware of.
Offense — Isaiah Likely. The Giants signed Likely to be their primary tight end, and second option as a receiver behind Malik Nabers. He formed a tremendous connection with Dart, and looked primed for a massive season because of that. He leads the Giants with 22 receptions, but the timing and communication between Likely and Winston has not been what it was with Dart and Likely. That is a work in progress.
Defense — Watch the veteran DT duo of D.J. Reader and Shelby Harris. The Giants are using a village to replace Dexter Lawrence, and those two were really good in Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals.
5) How should Washington go about gameplanning this matchup on both sides of the ball?
Offensively, you test the Giants run defense. Particularly to the edges. See if this will be a good or bad week for the run defense. Teams have used a lot of quick-game in the passing attack. Even though he doesn’t have a sack, you want to know where Abdul Carter is. The secondary has been better than anticipated, but you make them prove it.
Defensively, the Giants want to run the ball but they don’t have any home-run hitting backs. I think you crowd the line of scrimmage, try to make Winston win with his arm. He is capable of doing it but he is also capable of gifting you the ball — and points — at any moment.
Bonus Q) What do you think about Lucas Patrick? The Commanders signed him after Giants cutdowns and it looks like he’ll be our starting Center.
I think Patrick is an adequate veteran fill-in offensive lineman. He didn’t make the Giants roster for a couple of reasons. There were concerns about a knee issue that caused him to miss time in camp. John Harbaugh called it “old man” stuff. Also, Bryan Hudson is a younger player the Giants really like. He won the backup job, and may now actually be the starting center.
A companion article to this with my answers to Ed’s questions is linked here.
Thanks again to Ed Valentine for taking time out of his day to answer our questions about the Giants.
