The New York Giants tied the Washington Commanders 27-27 in Week 5. Here are the grades.
Offense: B
The showing might have seemed ugly at times, but a closer look at the numbers tells a different story.
The Giants outgained the Commanders 408 to 378 in net yards. Big Blue was also 3-for-3 in the red zone, while Washington was 0-for-1.
Jameis Winston’s day started shaky, with 7-of-16 completions for 72 yards and no touchdowns. In the second half, he went 21 of 28 for 211 yards and three touchdowns, with his completion percentage improving by leaps and bounds each quarter.
Malik Nabers wanted the ball, and he was targeted 20 times, catching 11 for his second straight 100-yard receiving game, a showing that also included one drop. Tight end Isaiah Likely also had a busy day, catching 11 of 13 targets, including all three on third down.
The biggest gut punch, though, was the running game, and in particular the lost fumble in overtime by Cam Skattebo. It marked the team’s fifth fumble in as many games and its third lost fumble, both of which lead the league.
It’s bad enough that the running game struggled to get going, finishing with an average of 3.7 yards per carry (3.5 if you discount the quarterbacks’ contributions).
Defense: B-
We’re reluctant to blame the Commanders on the fact that quarterback Jayden Daniels alone accounted for 103 of the team’s 202 rushing yards and two of its three touchdowns on the day (all on the ground), considering the Giants didn’t assign a spy on him (see coaching).
Take away Daniels’ rushing yards, and the run defense gave up only 99 rushing yards on 21 carries, 4.71 yards per carry, which looks a lot better than the 6.7 yards per carry the unit surrendered when you include Daniels’ yardage.
The pass rush added five more sacks to its season total, while the coverage allowed no touchdowns. Arvell Reese (13.3%) and Abdul Carter (15.6%) were among the Giants’ best rushers by pass-rush win rate.
Special Teams: C+
Rookie kicker Dominic Zvada had a rough day at the office, missing three of his five field-goal attempts, all from at least 45 yards out.
Zvada wasn’t completely shut out of the field-goal conversion column, though. The rookie nailed 51- and 56-yard attempts. Chalk it up to the day’s wet, sloppy conditions.
Charlie Jones had a solid day of return work on both kickoffs (26.0 average) and punts (13.0 average). Jones showed decisiveness and acceleration on each return, which helped his offense get a decent starting field position each time.
Jordan Stout punted only twice, forcing one fair catch, while the lone returned punt went for only two yards. That’s a 57-yard gross average and a 56-yard net average for this field-position flipper.
Coaching: B-
It was disheartening to learn they didn’t call for a spy on quarterback Jayden Daniels on the quarterback runs, which included two rushing touchdowns, one of them a 38-yarder.
We’re still not sure what went into the decisions to insert quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the game when they did, as there didn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason behind it, but that might have been a result of simply taking what Washington gave them.
We're also not sure why the coaches asked Doinic Zvada to try the long field goals in the conditions, but we suppose at some point, the rookie is going to have to learn to deal with that in his career.
But to give credit where it’s due, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy adjusted the offense to a more uptempo pace in the second half, and the Giants became more productive as they fought back from a 14-point deficit.
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