Keys to a Giants’ Victory Over the Washington Football Team

The Giants are undefeated in their last five games against the Washington Football Team. With some smart play to include these three areas, they can keep that streak going.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Sep 16, 2021 8:00 AM EDT

Giants quarterback Daniel Jones holds an 8-20 career record as an NFL quarterback. But the good news is that half of those career wins have come against the Washington Football Team.

Jones has been pretty good against Washington besides the wins. Career-wise he's completed 62.08% of his pass attempts with 36 touchdowns and 22 interceptions for an 84.3 rating. But against Washington, those numbers are better: 68.25% pass completion rate, eight touchdowns to three interceptions, and a 100.0 passer rating.

Can Jones add on another win to his totals? He can't do it alone (though he can certainly do his part by ceasing these ill-timed turnovers and bad decisions that have hurt this team. Here are a few other keys to a Giants win this weekend.

Convert on Third Down

It goes without saying that if a team is going to give itself a chance to win, it better convert at least 50% or more of its third-down attempts. Well, last week, the Giants did just that, but they didn't win, some of that because of the offense but a lot of that being on the defense.

This week, the Giants face a Washington defense that allowed the Chargers to convert 73.7% of their third-down attempts. The odds of Washington's defense being that loose on third down again this week are probably not very high--we are talking about a defense that last year finished seventh in the league against third down with a 37.83% conversion rate.

If the Giants can sustain drives to tire out that Washington defense, that surely can't hurt.

Limit Tight End Logan Thomas

Washington offensive coordinator Scott Turner undoubtedly took meticulous notes after watching how Denver tight end Noah Fant led his team in targets and tied for the lead in receptions against the Giants.

For whatever reason, the Giants left the middle of the field wide open, and the Broncos, who deployed Fant in the slot in 10 out of his 29 pass snaps, exploited the space in the Giants' zone coverage.

Fant averaged 3.16 yards of separation, well above the league average last week (2.87 yards). Meanwhile, Thomas lined up 18 times in the slot last week against the Chargers, catching three passes for 30 yards and a touchdown. The Giants need to tighten up their zones against Thomas, who, if he does see snaps in the slot, poses a mismatch against Giants slot cornerback Darnay Holmes.

Slow Down the Washington Pass Rush

Last week, the Giants pass protection wasn't horrible, though it helped that they didn't have to deal with both Von Miller and Bradlee Chubb.

This week they're not going to be as lucky as both of Washington's top pass rushers, Chase Young and Montez Sweat, are going to play. Sweat, in particular, was on fire last week, averaging 4.38 yards from the quarterback (well under the league average of 4.52 yards) on his rushes, while Young was slightly over at 4.55 yards.

That said, Young delivered three total tackles (one solo), one tackle for a loss, and had a pass breakup, so keeping him and Sweat out of the backfield, whether it be via a chip block or having a tight end try to stand him up is important.