The New York Giants suffered a heartbreaking 24-21 home loss to the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football. The game was sealed with 34 seconds remaining, when J.J. McCarthy threw an interception on third-and-10. The turnover came after New York’s defense had forced two fourth-quarter interceptions from Jayden Daniels while the Giants held the lead.
However, the offense failed to capitalize on either takeaway, going three-and-out on both ensuing possessions and allowing Washington to remain
within striking distance — and they struck on a quick slant that led to a Stefon Diggs 32-yard touchdown pass to seize the lead; Tae Banks and Dru Phillips collided, eliminating both players’ ability to make the tackle.
The Giants allowed the Commanders to hang around. The offense could not pick up first downs on crucial short-yardage situations; Malik Nabers fumbled the football in the red zone, and Dominic Zvada missed a 33-yard field goal. It was a frustrating loss that allowed the Commanders to stay relevant in the division, while giving them the tiebreaker over the Giants. Here are the immediate positional grades for the Giants.
Quarterback
J.J. McCarthy finished 23 of 36 for 293 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He was sacked once and rushed for 34 yards, including some impressive runs. McCarthy was hit on his interception, which was too high and short, allowing Rasual Douglas to undercut the throw. McCarthy had a lot of first reads, and the Giants seemed to use a lot more shotgun, spread, lighter packages than usual. He had some impressive throws, but there is offense is still being left out on the field.
Grade: B
Running back
Cam Skattebo averaged 4.3 yards per carry (18 attempts, 78 yards) for a pair of touchdowns with three catches for 44 yards, including a 34-yard catch-and-run that was creatively delivered to Skattebo by McCarthy. It was his backfield again. Skattebo found cut-back lanes and was the energy of the offense, while also adding some key blitz pickups. Devin Singletary had just one carry for three yards and he missed an early blitz pickup for McCarthy.
Grade: B+
Wide receiver
Malik Nabers caught just five passes for 44 yards. The Giants were trying to get him the ball short, but there wasn’t much space or success, and then the deep shot in the fourth quarter was intercepted. Nabers did, though, secure a 37-yard pass up the sideline. Nabers also had a costly fumble in the red zone.
Malachi Fields continues to make plays when his number is called. He secured three passes for 62 yards on four targets. Darnell Mooney caught two passes for eight yards on five targets. Jalin Hyatt played a few snaps in the first quarter and continues to be a track star for the Giants, running wind sprints.
Grade: B-
Tight end
Isaiah Likely caught nine of 11 targets for 127 yards and a touchdown, including a 66-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Likely continues to be one of the most valuable free agent signings in recent memory — excellent bang for the buck. Theo Johnson caught one pass for eight yards and dropped a well-placed third-down pass on a deep corner route. Johnson continues to drop passes when his number is called, which isn’t surprising, but I won’t let that affect the position grade too much given Likely’s performance.
Grade: B+
Offensive line
The Giants were firing off the ball better than they have been most of the season, but Washington made some crucial plays in short-yardage situations. The pass blocking was fine.
Grade: B
Defensive line
Washington was bottled up for much of the game on the ground. Richaad White had a couple of solid runs, including an 18-yarder; he finished with 47 yards on 11 carries. Austin Ekeler had 26 yards on nine carries, and Jayden Daniels had 28 yards on 11 carries. The defensive line, overall, was bottling up the run, with great plays by D.J. Reader. Shebly Harris also came up clutch with a big STOP at the line of scrimmage and a sack.
Grade: A-
Edge
Abdul Carter continues to be the player opposing offenses circle. He received a lot of attention and drew an important holding call. He also had a tackle for a loss and a quarterback hit. Kayvon Thiboeaux had eight tackles in the game and was hobbled in the fourth quarter; he continues to do the gritty work that is sometimes thankless. Trace Ford and Dawuane Smoot each had a tackle.
Grade: B
Linebacker
Arvell Reese and Micah McFadden were both FLYING around the field, making a collective 23 tackles between them; the former had 13, and the latter had 10. Both players are assets when blitzing and pressuring the quarterback, but Washington was so quick to get the football out that it negated Dennard Wilson’s five-to-six-man pressure packages. Both linebackers played well, though.
Grade: A
Cornerback
For the most part, the Giants’ starting outside cornerbacks covered the Washington wide receivers. Jayden Daniels finished 23 of 33 for 249 yards with three touchdowns. Two of the touchdowns were surrendered by the safeties; the other was by Dru Phillips, who was beaten badly on a slant route by Stefon Diggs. Phillips is who he is as a player in coverage; he is inconsistent with discipline and technique.
Tae Banks took a fourth-quarter defensive pass interference penalty that advanced the ball 33 yards with less than two minutes left. Other than that, though, Banks was solid, and so was Greg Newsome II. Banks also had a pass deflected.
Grade: B+
Safeties
The Giants safeties made two impressive interceptions in the fourth quarter that SHOULD have sealed the victory for the Giants. Jevon Holland intercepted a wheel route in the red zone, and Ar’Darius Washington came away with a pick on an out route on the next Washington drive. Somehow the Giants’ offense couldn’t get a first down. Nevertheless, the Giants’ safeties were impressive, despite surrendering two touchdowns in man coverage: one to Holland and the other to Jason Pinnock.
Grade: A-
Special teams
Terrible. Don’t get me wrong, Jordan Stout had a few excellent punts, but the 12-yard punt in the fourth quarter after the Giants’ second three-and-out was when it became apparent that the Giants were going to blow this game.
SIDE NOTE: It was perhaps the worst three-play sequence in recent memory — beating James Hudson’s three-penalty outing from Week 1 of last season: first, the Giants call a read-sweep on third-and-3 where McCarthy is tackled for a loss by Sonny Styles; then, with 1:54 left in the game, up by four, Stout punts the football 12 yards to the Washington 29-yard line, and THEN Tae Banks committed a 33-yard pass interference — ABYSMAL!
Back to the special teams. Dominic Zvada missed a 33-yard field goal on the Giants’ second drive. New York’s offense showed life on their first two drives, and they came away with ZERO points, including a missed field goal that Ed could have made. It’s inexcusable at this point.
Grade: D-
