The Giants offense couldn’t get the job done in Buffalo last Sunday, but their defense and special teams were able to slam the door on the Commanders this Sunday.
Commanders quarterback Sam Howell threw a pair of incompletions from the Giants’ 9-yard-line in the final minute of Sunday’s game at MetLife Stadium and the Giants blocked a field goal to end another scoring chance in the fourth quarter. Those outcomes enabled the Giants to get a 14-7 win despite generating no points of their own after halftime.
Their points came on a pair of Tyrod Taylor touchdown passes to tight end Darren Waller and running back Saquon Barkley. Waller had seven catches for 98 yards during his biggest game as a Giant and Barkley had 118 yards of offense, but lost a fumble in the fourth quarter when the Giants were trying to put the game away.
Daron Payne recovered on the Commanders’ 15-yard-line and Washington put together a 17-play drive that included a fourth-down conversion that set up the final four plays of the drive. Howell was incomplete on three of them, which was a fitting end to a day when the Commanders offense was mostly a mess.
They had just 46 yards at halftime and converted 1-of-15 third down tries over the course of the afternoon. Howell, who was 22-of-49 for 249 yards and an interception, was also sacked six times, which moves him up to 40 on the year, and the Commanders committed 10 penalties to further shoot themselves in the foot.
Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams led the attack up front for the Giants and first-round corner Deonte Banks had his first NFL interception.
The Giants gave up four sacks of their own, but there was life to the offense in the first half of the game. The touchdowns were the first since Week Four for the Giants offense and the first that the unit scored in the first half all season. There was enough struggle later in the game to make it clear that there’s more work to do, but they’ll be able to do it off a win and that’s a welcome change for the 2-5 Giants this season.
A matchup with the Jets is on deck in Week Eight and the 3-4 Commanders will host the Eagles.
