The New York Giants are putting last Sunday’s 48-22 drubbing at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles behind them and moving on to this week’s game — a rematch against the Washington Commanders, the team they are battling for the final playoff spots in the NFC.
The Giants and Commanders tied, 20-20, in Week 13 at MetLife Stadium, a game that many felt they should have won.
“It’s frustrating when you put yourself in a position to be up on a team and pull out a win against a divisional opponent,” said left tackle Andrew Thomas. “You want to be able to do that and we didn’t do enough to get that done. We’re just going back through film, watching that just to see what we can clean up, what we can do better to get the win on Sunday.”
They’ll have to do better this Sunday night in D.C. than they did last Sunday against the Eagles when they allowed two sacks in the first five plays, setting a negative tone.
“As an offensive line, you don’t ever want something like that to happen, but we have to do a better job of responding when adversity happens,” said Thomas. “We’re going to play against good fronts. They’re talented, they get paid, too. If they make a play, we have to do a good job of flushing it and being better the next play.”
This week, the already loaded Commanders defensive front should be getting back pass rusher Chase Young, the 2020 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year who has been out since the middle of last season with a torn ACL.
Thomas is linked to Young as the two were selected second and fourth overall respectively in the 2020 NFL draft.
“Like I said, it’s already a talented front. Adding him just makes it better. He’s an explosive rusher. He plays hard. So, really do a good job. I don’t really know how they’re going to use him as far as snap counts and stuff like that. Just watch film from last year and his rookie year to prepare for that,” Thomas said.
The Giants are already 4.5-point underdogs and are coming off a crushing defeat has them second-guessing themselves. The Commanders are coming off a bye and have only lost once since Week 6.
