New York Giants Show Improvement in 23-20 Win Over Washington Football Team

Giants cash in on five Washington turnovers and cut down their mistakes as they record their second win of the season.

Remember all that improvement Giants head coach Joe Judge, his assistant coaches, and the players swore they were making behind the scenes even though it wasn’t showing up on game days, right?

Well, it finally showed up in the Giants' second win of the 2020 season, a 23-20 road triumph over the Washington Football Team for the Giants’ fifth win in a row over their NFC East foes and their second sweep of the regular-season series in as many years.

It wasn’t quite the blowout that initially looked like it would be. The Giants, who by halftime had a very comfortable 17-point lead at halftime built off of two of Washington’s five turnovers on the day, ended up letting the Football Team come charging back when they scored on their first three possessions of the second half to slice the Giants lead to 23-20 with 10:35 left.

The Giants, who had given up some alarming chunk yardage in the second half of the game, came up with two huge interceptions: one by safety Jabrill Peppers and one by defensive back Logan Ryan, the latter on a play that defensive coordinator Patrick Graham drew up the night before.

On the offensive side of the ball, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, a turnover machine for most of his pro career, finished 23 of 34 for 212 yards and one touchdown. But more importantly, he recorded just his second career game (both against Washington) in which he didn’t turn the ball over.

That included holding onto the ball for dear life after absorbing a  huge fourth-quarter blindside hit in which perhaps in past games Jones might have dropped.

From a team perspective, one of the most significant signs of improvement came with the team having answered head coach Joe Judge’s call to finish out the game, something that has eluded the Giants in three of their last losses.

With the win, the Giants move to 2-7 with the Eagles on deck, the winner of which could make up some ground in the NFC East race.  

But Judge said he’s not worried about win-loss records or standings; he's simply looking for the team to improve one day at a time, one game at a time.

Like they did this week against Washington.