The Commanders didn’t score any touchdowns on Sunday, but that didn’t stop them from beating the Giants.
Austin Seibert kicked seven field goals, including one on the final play of the game, and the Giants beat their divisional rivals 21-18 at home. The win is the first with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and it made the decision to replace Cade York with Seibert this week look like a smart one.
Kicking was a significant plot point on both sides. Giants kicker Graham Gano left the game with a hamstring injury he suffered on the opening kickoff and did not return, so the Giants did not try field goals or extra points after punter Jamie Gillan missed an extra point in the first half. Gano’s absence loomed large just before the two-minute warning as the Giants had to go on fourth-and-4 from the Washington 22-yard-line and Daniel Jones threw an incompletion to ensure Washington would have a chance to win the game with a kick of their own.
Jones was 16-of-28 for 178 yards and two touchdowns. One of the scores was the first of first-round pick Malik Nabers’s career and the rookie finished with 10 catches for 127 yards.
Nabers’s college teammate Jayden Daniels was 23-of-29 for 226 yards and the Commanders rolled up 215 rushing yards. Daniels had 44, Austin Ekeler had 38, and Brian Robinson led the way with 117 yards for Washington. That offensive balance wasn’t in place against the Buccaneers in the opener and it will be something that the Commanders hope to see more of against the Bengals next week.
The big game for Nabers was encouraging, but there wasn’t much else to like about the Giants’s outing on Sunday. They will be in Cleveland next weekend and another loss will make for a lot of doom and gloom over the heads of Jones, head coach Brian Daboll, and General Manager Joe Schoen.