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Giants (3-11) Redskins (3-11)
The Redskins are coming off a close game with
the Philadelphia Eagles. The lead changed hands many times, but a touchdown with
26 seconds left put the Eagles up by four points. A fumble returned for a touchdown
on the Redskins last drive, made the score 37-27 in favor of the Eagles.
On
Sunday the Giants started Eli Manning, and they scored their highest points of
the season. It was a 36-20 much needed win over the Miami Dolphins that ended
their long 9 game losing streak. Washington
Redskins
It's been tough over the years for the Washington
fans. Since 2000 they've topped 8 wins only four times. The first two, 2005 (10-6)
and 2007 (9-7), got them into the playoffs as a wild card team. They lost in the
divisional playoff game in 2005, and in 2007 lost the wildcard game. The more
recent ones, 2012 (10-6), and 2015 (9-7), had the Redskins winning the NFC East
division titles, where they then went on to lose in the wild card playoff games.
In
Washington's first game with the Giants, Dwayne Haskins saw his first action of
the year. Their first-round draft pick came in to replace Case Keenum midway through
the second quarter. Daniel Jones was playing in only his second game of the season,
and the Giants were up by two touchdowns at that point. Haskins wasn't able to
jump in and lead his team to victory. Haskins has won two games since, and was
close to winning another last week with the Eagles. Redskins
Offense
Dwayne Haskins knows he wasn't quite
ready in that first game he was thrown into with the Giants. Last week, even though
the team lost, he completed 19 of his 28 passes for 261 yards and 2 touchdowns.
That was a career high for Haskins in passing
yards, and in yards per completion - 9.3. He
got rid of the ball quickly, and was mobile enough to avoid sacks, running 4 times
for 26 yards against the Eagle tough defensive front line. Considering the Redskins
are ranked 27th in sacks allowed with 44, it shows how well the team can do when
they put it all together.
Also doing well against the Eagles defense was running
back Adrian Peterson. Peterson had 16 carries for 66 yards and 1 touchdown, which
tied him with Walter Payton for fourth in rushing touchdowns with 110. He also
passed Curtis Martin for fifth on the NFL's all-time rushing list with 14,102
yards. Peterson caught all three passes from Haskins, and has scored a touchdown
in each of the last three games.
Haskins relies on wide receiver Terry McLaurin,
who has the second-most receiving yards among
rookies with 833, and is tied for second in touchdowns with 7. McLaurin leads
the team with 51 receptions, 833 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns. McLaurin and
Haskins played together at Ohio State last year, and that could explain their
good connection. Running back Chris Thompson is the second leading receiver on
the team with 37 catches for 360 yards.
Redskins
Defense
They are near the bottom with their
rushing defense, ranking 28th in the league, allowing 136.4 rushing yards per
game. In the last two games they've allowed the opponents top ball carriers 134
yards and 122 yards, while averaging 8 yards a carry and 6 yards a carry. Saquon
Barkley wasn't available the first time the Giants and Redskins played, but judging
from last week's game where he was used heavily, he appears to be fully recovered.
Matt Ioannidis leads the team with 8.5 sacks,
and they likely would have benefited from having
Ryan Kerrigan available last week with the
Eagles, but Kerrigan was placed on injured reserve before that game.
The Redskins
are tied for seventh in the NFL with 42 sacks. In their last two wins playing
against Detroit and Carolina with inexperienced quarterbacks Jeff Driskel and
Kyle Allen, they had 6 and 7. In the two games since, they hit Green Bay's Aaron
Rodgers for 4, and Philadelphia's Carson Wentz for 2. Daniel Jones will have to
be careful, as things might not go as well as they did in the first matchup where
there were no sacks, and he ran on them 5 times for 33 yards. Jones's 2 interceptions
went to cornerback Quinton Dunbar in that game, but Dunbar will miss this one,
as well as corner Jimmy Moreland, who was placed on IR this week, and corner Fabian
Moreau is listed as doubtful. Giants
Offense
Daniel Jones is healthy, and will
be in again at the quarterback spot for this game. Though the Giants won the game
last week and broke a nine game losing streak with Eli Manning, he will be the
backup. How will that affect the team? Well it doesn't seem to matter much to
rookie Darius Slayton, who has shown to be reliable catching the ball for both
Jones and Manning. In the last two games, he's caught 3 touchdown passes from
Manning. In the eight before that, 5 touchdown passes from Jones, totaling 8 on
the year on 44 catches for 690 yards.
They gave Saquon Barkley 24 carries last
week, the most he's had all year, and he made good use of them, averaging 4.7
yards a carry, and he had 2 touchdowns, his highest in any one game this season.
Sterling Shepard caught nine of 11 passes for 111 yards. It was the second time
he's reached 100 receiving yards in the eight games he'd played this season. The
offensive line has been playing well over the last four games, giving up only
4 sacks. Tight end Evan Engram was placed on injured reserve this week, and Rhett
Ellison is out once again. Giants
Defense
The Giants defense is coming together,
even though they recently waived cornerback Janoris Jenkins. They played well
last week against Miami, and came up with a safety during the game. That would
be thanks to cornerback Sam Beal, who tackled Dolphins running back Patrick Laird
in the end zone. Beal missed all of his rookie year due to a shoulder injury.
In the last two games the Giants are beginning to see what they had missed out
on. Rookie corner DeAndre Baker, after a rocky start on the season, has excelled
over the last four games. He's no longer the guy to target in the secondary.
Up
front, Ryan Fitzpatrick ran on them twice for long first downs, but they sacked
Fitzpatrick 3 times, once causing him to fumble. Overall they allowed the Dolphins
to convert on just 3 of their 13 third downs. Up front Leonard Williams has been
a boost for the defense since coming aboard from a trade with the Jets. Aside
from run defense, he has numerous quarterback hits, and his teammates have recorded
more sacks.
Defenses have come to expect that the Redskins will run the ball
on 1st-and-10 almost 60 percent of the time. Only four other teams do that more,
but they switched up last week in the Eagles game, and Dwayne
Haskins had a career day. The Giants will have to be aware of them sticking to
that change as they plan their defensive moves. Overall
The NFC East matchup teams this week have equal records. Unfortunately, it's the
Cowboys and Eagles that are at 7-7, with one team destined for the playoffs. The
Giants and Redskins are at 3-11, instead 'destined' for a high draft pick. Both
teams have rookie quarterbacks in their learning stages. Has Daniel Jones learned
anything from watching Eli Manning play two games? Can
Dwayne Haskins continue to put up career numbers as he did last week? The Redskins
are favored to win this game by a slim margin, but their secondary has big problems.
Meanwhile, the Giants secondary seems to be coming together. I'd say that gives
them the advantage here. NFC
East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Giants (3-11)
at Redskins (3-11)
Sunday at 4:25pm Cowboys (7-7) at Eagles (7-7).
The
Redskins and Cowboys are the NFC East teams favored to win in these games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Notes.
Giants
Darius Slayton leads all rookies with 8 receiving touchdowns. Giants
last week scored their highest total of the season with their 36-20 win over Miami.
Next Game
DEC 29 Eagles at Giants.
Giants
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