Luke Johnson-Imagn Images
Big Blue’s defense took the saying “bend but don’t break” too seriously.
Starting with the positive, the pass rush looked better as they were able to sack Jayden Daniels five times, although none actually came off the edge. They also held the Commanders to no touchdowns, limiting them to field goals on each of their red zone trips.
However, this also meant that the Giants allowed a score on seven of eight drives and the only drive that they did not score was a kneel at the end of the first half. Many of the red zone stops were also due to Washington penalties rather than New York’s defensive prowess.
The main problem was the run defense. They allowed 6.1 yards per carry for a total of 215 rushing yards. The rushing lanes were wide open and the Commanders took full advantage of it.
The unit could also not make the big plays. An example of this was Jason Pinnock, who had a great day with two sacks but missed a big opportunity on a pick when he was outmuscled by Zach Ertz. And across the board, they could not force incompletions (the rookie completed 79 percent of his passes) or make tackles. A recipe for disaster.
