The New York Giants defeated the Washington Commanders, 31-19, in Week 11.
This victory for New York completes the season sweep on Washington while also making it the seventh win in the last 10 matchups. The Giants looked like a completely different team on Sunday firing on all sides of the ball and finishing with their first two-score win of the season.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this win.
Offense: B
The biggest stat for this offense was zero turnovers.
With a rookie undrafted free-agent quarterback and a horrible offensive line, turnovers feel like almost a given. However, Tommy DeVito and the Giants stood strong and played a clean game in Landover, Maryland.
However, a clean game does not necessarily equate to a good game. Devito was sacked nine times on the day and the blame was shared all around between him and the offensive line. The offensive line seems to always be a problem as they were getting minimal push in the run game and have not been known for their elite pass protection this season.
With that in mind, DeVito still had a pretty impressive day, especially for a third-string quarterback. He finished with 246 passing yards and three touchdowns equating to a 137.7 passer rating. He got a lot of help from Saquon Barkley, who was the life of this offense scoring two receiving touchdowns and finishing with 140 scrimmage yards.
Overall, the team only totaled 292 yards of offense and went 5-14 on third down while failing to convert on their only fourth down. There is a lot of room for growth and the ability to extend drives remains a problem but the performance this Sunday is a huge step in the right direction.
Defense: A
On the other end, the Giants defense forced six turnovers on Sunday.
This was the story of the game as the defense was still very much leaky (allowing 403 yards) but came up big when necessary. The team forced three fumbles and came up with three interceptions.
The two biggest reasons for all of these turnovers were that Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence were practically unblockable on Sunday. The former finished with two tackles for a loss, three QB hits, two sacks, and one pass defensed, while the latter added one tackle for a loss, one QB hit, one sack, and two passes defensed.
They made Sam Howell’s life miserable by providing consistent and aggressive pressure all day long.
This culminated in the game-ending play where Isaiah Simmons was able to pick off Howell late in the fourth quarter and return it for 54 yards to seal the deal on the victory.
Special Teams: B-
The special teams unit played up to par on Sunday.
Jamie Gillan was solid averaging 45.4 yards per punt with two landing inside the twenty.
Randy Bullock made all four of his extra points and his one field goal attempt.
Gunner Olszewski also has proven to be a good addition in the return game as he added two punt returns for 16 yards (and no muffed punts).
The one negative is that the Giants only had nine men on the field on a Washington field goal attempt that could have easily been blocked had there been two extra men.
Coaching: B+
Brian Daboll had his team showing life more indicative of the 2022 Giants.
The game plan going into the game looked the best all year as the Giants won the first half for just the second time all season. They also never trailed in this contest, making it their first start-to-finish victory.
This was a great bounce back from Daboll as he was (and probably still is) firmly on the hot seat with the team looking the worst it had in a while. Picking up a much-needed win against a divisional rival is always nice and this continues Daboll’s undefeated streak against the Commanders.
On the offensive side of the ball, Mike Kafka seemed to have a much better game plan for DeVito and the offense. The plan was pretty simple but effective, get Barkley the ball. Kafka drew up some nicely designed pass plays for the running back getting him involved in what was arguably the worst passing attack in the NFL coming into Sunday.
Kafka still needs to coach up DeVito’s pocket presence and take more advantage of the defense turning over the ball.
On the defensive side of the ball, Wink Martindale had a performance that was more reminiscent of his Baltimore days. Six quarterback hits, four sacks, and six turnovers are absolute dominance on the defensive end.
Martindale schemed up some amazing pressures to take advantage of a porous Commanders’ offensive line. He also had his defense stout on third downs keeping Washington with just a 38-percent conversion percentage.
