Game Preview, Week 9: Giants at Washington

Posted on November 6, 2020 by Steve Thomas

November 6, 2020

by Steve Thomas

Welcome to second half of the 2020 season, everyone! Incredibly enough, Washington is actually in the race in the NFC East despite a 2 – 5 record, because the NFC East is as putrid of a division as we’ve ever seen in the NFL. Therefore, this week’s battle against the Giants is, incredibly, an important game for both Washington and the division as a whole. The Giants are just as bad of a team as is Washington, but their one victory came against the Redskins Washington in week 6. This is certainly a winnable game for our beloved WFT thatssuchastupidacronym . . . team, but it’s by no means a slam dunk. Daniel Jones has been mostly bad, and the Giants lost their best player, Saquon Barkley, in week 2, but these games always seem to be either tough battles or Giants blowouts. They game likely will be no different, but it will go a long way at showing whether this team has in fact started to develop some intestinal fortitude and has a brighter future as we all hope. It will hopefully be a great game.

Game time & location: Sunday, November 8, 2020, 1:00 p.m. ET, Fed Ex Field, Waldorf, MD; no fans

Television: FOX

Television announcers: Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Shannon Spake

TV broadcast map: click here

DC-area radio: The Team 980

Washington radio network: click here

Giants radio network: click here

Satellite radio: XM: 232 (Wash. broad.) Sirius: 132 (Wash. broad); internet: 831 (Washington broad.)

Redskins roster: click here

Redskins depth chart: click here

Giants roster: click here

Giants depth chart: click here

All-time head-to-head record vs Giants: 68 – 103 – 4 (last 10: 4 – 6) (streak: 0 – 4)

Last meeting: L, October 18, 2020, 19 – 20

Early odds: Washington, -3.5

3 KEYS TO THE GAME

Washington’s offensive efficiency

This is likely going to remain the most important key to wins for the rest of the season. Washington’s offense has certainly been better under Kyle Allen than it was under Dwayne Haskins, but this unit has not performed well against any non-NFC East team, either. The Giants defense was better last week against Tampa Bay. Throw in the fact that these games are normally hard-hitting and competitive, and Washington’s offense will have a bigger challenge on their hands than it ordinarily would against a 1 – 7 team. Watch for how well Washington’s run game can do against the Giants’ fairly stout run defense.

Keeping Daniel Jones in the pocket

Jones happens to be the Giants’ leading rusher, both in terms of total yards and yards per carry. One of his few saving graces is that his athletic ability can to some extent offset his limitations as a quarterback. Washington’s defense needs to do its best to keep Jones from making those drive-extending scrambles and make him win the game as a traditional pocket quarterback. Washington’s If they can do that, Washington stands a decent chance of winning the game because I doubt Jones is ready to carry a team.

Don’t give up big plays to New York receivers

The 2020 Washington defense has had a knack for giving up big, soul-crushing plays at a fairly prodigious clip. This week, the Giants feature one of the better receivers in the NFL, Darius Slayton, who is averaging 15.2 yards per carry, and a quality tight end, Evan Engram who has had some big games in his career. Washington’s secondary needs to play a clean game with no coverage mixups and mixed tackle.

3 KEY MATCHUPS

James Bradberry vs Terry McLaurin

McLaurin has faced a gauntlet of high-quality corners this year, and Bradberry round 2, is the latest. McLaurin had 7 catches for 74 yards in Washington’s first game against the Giants, and he needs to do it again and more this week. McLaurin is becoming must-watch TV every single week, and this is no exception.

Andrew Thomas and Cameron Fleming vs Montez Sweat and Chase Young

Thomas has been in and out of the starting lineup this year, but it appears as though he will be tasked with facing down Washington’s top passer rushers, Montez Sweat and his peer on the other side, Chase Young. These two will play an especially important role in this game because of Jones’ ability to scramble. This is certainly one of the most visible matchups to watch in this game.

Darius Slayton vs Kendall Fuller

As I mentioned above, Washington needs to keep Slayton more or less in check and keep him from making big plays. Fuller has become Washington’s #1 corner, so primary responsibility for this matchup will fall to him. Fuller obviously has 4 interceptions on the year, and it would be nice to see him take advantage of Jones’ penchant for turning over the ball and really turn this matchup with Slayton on its head.

OFFICIAL INJURY REPORT (active roster only) (starters in bold)

LP – limited practice FP – full practice DNP – did not practice

NIR – not injury related Q – questionable O – out

D – doubtful NL – not listed

Washington	Giants
T G. Christian, knee; Wed: LP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: D	RB D. Freeman, ankle; Wed: DNP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP; game: O
DL J. Smith-Williams, concussion; Wed: LP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP	DB R. Lewis, hamstring; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: IR/O
DE M. Sweat, concussion; Wed: LP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP	WR G. Tate, NIR; Wed: DNP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP
TE L. Thomas, ankle; Wed: LP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP	LB D. Downs, shoulder; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP
WR I. Wright, shoulder; Wed: LP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP	LB B. Martinez, hamstring; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP
WR D. Inman, hamstring, Wed: NL; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: D	DB L. Ryan, hip; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP
	WR S. Shepard, shoulder/toe; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP

TEAM STATISTICS

Washington:

Washington’s accumulating offensive stats are obviously affected by the bye week and thus don’t have a ton of value, but some are still valuable, such as yards per game (30th in the NFL), yards per play (31st), third down conversions (28th), and time of possession (19th). Make no mistake: this is still a bad offense that was fortunate enough to play a terrible defense in the Dallas Cowboys.

The converse is true for the Washington defense – the accumulating stats are made better as a result of the bye week, which makes them similarly useless. Also, the pathetic Dallas Cowboys further boosted their numbers. Some of the stats that are not bye-week dependent include average yards per game (4th), passing yards per attempt (19th), rushing yards per attempt (12th), and opponents third down conversion rate (15th).

Record: 2 – 5 (2nd) (Home: 2 – 2; NFC: 2 – 3; NFC East: 2 – 1)

All-time franchise record: 605 – 608 – 28

Offense

Offensive rankings	31 (points) / 32 (total yards) / 30 (yards per game) / 31 (yards per play) / 29 (passing yards) / 28 (passing yards per att.) / 27 (rushing yards) / 27 (rushing yards per att.)
Points for	133
Yards per game	292.7
Passing	243 att (23rd); 153 comp; 63.0% comp per. (25th); 6.3 Y/A; 1348 net yds; 8 TD; 4 Int
Passing leader	Allen (80 att, 548 yds, 68.8% comp perc (9th), 4 TDs / 1 Int, 99.4 QB rating (13th); Haskins (146 att (30th), 939 yds (31st), 61.0% comp perc, 4 TDs / 3 Int, 80.3 QB rating)
Receiving leader	McLaurin (577 yds (12th), 69 tgts (7th), 43 rec (14th), 2 TDs, 13.4 YPC (40th))
Rushing	180 att (27th); 701 yds; 3.9 Y/A; 100.1 Y/G (26th); 8 TD
Rushing leader	Gibson (84 att (24th), 371 yds (25th), 4 TDs, 4.4 Y/A (27th), long 40)
Sacks surrendered / rank	26 / 30
Ave time of possession / rank	29:33 / 19
3rd down conversion rate / rank	38.14% / 28
TD percentage in red zone / rank	61.90% / 17

Defense

Defensive rankings	9 (points) / 2 (total yards) / 4 (yards per game surrendered) / 7 (yards per play) / 1 (passing yards) / 19 (passing yards per att.) / 15 (rushing yards) / 12 (rushing yards per att.)
Points against	165
Yards per game surrendered	309.1
Opponent’s passing	125 att (1st); 197 comp; 63.5% comp perc. (11th); 7.4 Y/A; 1301 net yds; 10 TDs; QB Rating 85.7 (9th)
Opponent’s rushing	205 att (16th); 8 yds63; 4.2 Y/A; 8 TD; 123.3 Y/G (17th)
Sacks / rank / Sack leader	22 / 6 / Sweat (5.0)
Tackles leader	Bostic (52)
Int / rank / Int leader	8 / 10 / Fuller (4)
Opponent 3rd down conv rate / rank	40.43% / 15
Opponent TD percentage in red zone / rank	52.38% / 5

Special Teams

Kick returns	17.6 Y/R (30th), 13 returns, long 28 yards (30th), 0 TDs
Punt returns	4.5 Y/R (30th), 16 returns, long 19 yards (20th), 0 TD
Kick return defense	28.0 Y/R (28th), 5 returns, 0 TDs
Punt return defense	4.9 Y/R (3rd), 18 returns, 0 TDs
Punting	49.2 Y/P (1st)

Turnovers (lost by O / recv’d by D / net / rank): 11 / 10 / -1 / 21

Penalties (total accepted # / rank): 34 / 6

Giants:

From a statistical perspective, the Giants’ offense is mostly terrible, having scored only 145 points (29th), 291.8 yards per game (31st), 1,546 net passing yards (27th), and scoring touchdowns in just 40.91% of their trips to the red zone. They are moderately better in the run game, but that’s mostly due to quarterback Daniel Jones’ rushing abilities. Their #1 receiver, Darius Slayton, has 485 yards and 3 touchdowns in 32 receptions. Davonte Freeman is their leading non-Jones rusher, but he’s averaging just 3.2 yards per carry.

Much like Washington, New York’s defense is the stronger unit of the two from a statistical perspective. They’ve given up 199 points, which is ranked 21st, and are ranked 21st in total yards, 32nd in yards per game, 27th in passing yards, but are better against the run, ranked 10th. The Giants defense has been bad on third downs (48.57%, ranked 27th), but good in the red zone (ranked 6th).

Record: 1 – 7 (4th); Away: 0 – 4; NFC: 1 – 6; NFC East 1 – 2)

All-time franchise record: 697 – 615 – 33

Offense

Offensive rankings	29 (points) / 28 (total yards) / 31 (yards per game) / 29 (yards per play) / 27 (passing yards) / 31 (passing yards per att.) / 24 (rushing yards) / 13 (rushing yards per att.)
Points for	145
Yards per game	291.8
Passing	273 att (11th); 169 comp; 61.9% comp per. (26th); 6.2 Y/A; 1546 net yds; 7 TDs; 9 Int
Passing leader	Jones (272 att (8th), 1666 yds (21st), 61.8% comp per. (26th), 7 TDs / 9 Int, 73.9 QB rating (29th))
Reception leader	Slayton (485 yds (24th), 56 targets (20th), 32 rec (33rd), 3 TDs, 15.2 Y/C (25th))
Rushing	177 att (28th); 788 yds; 4.5 Y/A; 98.5 Y/G (27th); 5 TDs
Rushing leader	Jones (34 att, 316 yds (31st), 0 TDs, 9.3 Y/A, long 48 yds); Freeman (54 att (39th), 172 att, 1 TD, 3.2 Y/A, long 14 yds)
Sacks surrendered / rank	23 / 26
Ave time of possession / rank	27:55/ 26
3rd down conversion rate / rank	41.67% / 19
TD percentage in red zone / rank	40.91% / 31

Defense

Defensive rankings	21 (points) / 21 (total yards) / 13 (yards per game surrendered) / 13 (yards per play) / 27 (passing yards) / 24 (passing yards per att.) / 10 (rushing yards) / 4 (rushing yards per att.)
Points against	199
Yards per game surrendered	354.8
Opponent’s passing	286 att (26th); 197 comp; 69.9% comp per. (26th); 7.8 Y/A; 2022 net yds; 14 TD; QB Rating 100.1 (24th)
Opponent’s rushing	223 att (27th); 816 yds; 3.7 Y/A; 7 TD
Sacks / rank / Sack leader	20 / 16 / Williams (4.0)
Tackles leader	Martinez (82)
Int / rank / Int leader	5 / 22 / Bradberry (3)
Opponent 3rd down conv rate / rank	48.57% / 27
Opponent TD percentage in red zone / rank	54.55% / 6

Special Teams

Kick returns	22.8 Y/R (12th), 16 returns, long 44 yards (12th), 0 TDs
Punt returns	11.0 Y/R (8th), 10 returns, long 20 yards (16th), 0 TDs
Kick return defense	20.6 Y/R (7th), 36 returns, 0 TDs
Punt return defense	8.1 Y/R (20th), 35 returns, 1 TDs
Punting	43.6 Y/P (26th)

Turnovers (lost by O / recv’d by D / net / rank): 15 / 10 / -5 / 28

Penalties (total accepted # / rank): 44 / 19

* Statistics courtesy of www.pro-football-reference.com, www.nflpenalties.com, www.nfl.com, www.teamrankings.com, www.espn.com, www.sportingcharts.com