Giants v. Commanders - Week 2 Recap
Saturday night, it was reported that Graham Gano was dealing with a groin injury. One would assume, that the Giants would have some sort of contingency plan in place, if (when) Gano would be unable to play. Instead, this regime gave the fanbase a groin injury of its own, by kicking us directly in the balls and refusing to elevate a backup kicker to the active roster.
Daboll and Schoen were well of this being a potential issue - they had punter Jamie Gillan practicing place kicks in warmups. Yet, they made their “surprised Pikachu” faces in unison when Gano pulled a hammy…chasing down a return man he had no chance of tackling…in a play that would end up being called back.
From there, the writing was on the wall. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that this would be the trademark to yet another embarrassing loss. I’d say that this team continues to invent new ways to lose, but even that wouldn’t be true - as they’ve already made this exact same mistake the year prior against the Zach Wilson led Jets.
I said in last week’s recap that the defense was lucky to avoid its warranted criticism -because the lame stream media was too busy dogpiling on Daniel Jones. While this kicker debacle will dominate the headlines, its time to put this unit to task.
Kliff Kingsbury’s opening drive script consisted of literally nothing besides inside runs, screen passes, and Jayden Daniels bailing him out by escaping collapsing pockets. Yet, this formula resulted in a 10 minute field goal drive to start the game. Admittedly, I wasn’t too concerned at the time. This vanilla play calling and (what felt like) miracle 3rd down conversion process shouldn’t be sustainable - and the commies were held to 3 points.
Jayden Daniels and the Commanders went on to replicate this exact same drive 6 straight times.
I don’t want to hear any more of Shane Bowen’s “bend don’t break” bullshit. We were dominated in time of possession (by over 15 mins), could never get off the field on 3rd down (50% conversion), and didn’t force a punt or turnover the entire game. And spare me with the absolute nonsense about bunkering down in the red zone, several of these field goal drives were stalled by pre-snap Washington penalties, not whatever defensive “scheme” was implemented. You knew damn well that we needed to contain Daniels in the pocket and stop the run, yet you didn’t come close to accomplishing either of these tasks.
I can’t wait to see what this clown has planned for next week, but lord know’s Bowen will somehow find a way to kickstart a redemption arc for a serial sex predator.
While the bar for a bounce back performance couldn’t have been set lower, Daniel Jones played fairly well Sunday. He trusted the clean pockets that the offensive line provided him and was decisive with the ball. He also learned the important lesson that spamming the Malik Nabers button is going to be the key to any sort of success he has in his final season with the team.
The offense’s possessions were limited based on the aforementioned defensive performance, as well as a costly fumble by Devin Singletary - but DJ played well enough to win. Is this “success” sustainable? Probably not. The deep balls were wildly inaccurate, we failed to convert a pair of critical 2 point conversions and this morsel of a passing attack was against the worst defense on the schedule. Regardless, he deserves his $5.99 bouquet of flowers after spending the week as the league’s whipping boy.
The main positive on the day was Malik Nabers. The rookie ran wild through the Washington secondary to the tune of 10 catches, 127 yards, and a TD. I loved seeing his ability to run after the catch on crossing routes as well as a pair of curls in the 2-minute drill. In years past, those catches go to Slayton for 6 yards and we end up punting before half. Meanwhile Nabers was able to fake the move inside and get upfield and out of bounds for firsts. This led to the Giants cashing in on their first TD in the last 2 minutes of the half in seemingly 15 years.
Despite this breakout performance, Nabers was unable to avoid being part of the collateral damage from the kicking incident. Late in the 4th, the Giants were unable to attempt the go-ahead field goal and instead were forced to attempt a 4th and 4 at the Washington 22 yard line. Daniel Jones climbed the pocket and found Nabers for the would-be 1st down. Malik dropped his easiest catch of the day at the most critical moment, as the Giants turned the ball over on downs and would end up allowing the game winning field goal as time expired.
The situation flat out sucks, theres no other way to put it. The kid is already feeling the pressure to carry the franchise and despite doing so Sunday, he ends up making the mistake on the biggest play of the game. FOX then proceeded to twist the knife and livestream “Leek”sulking on the bench for the remainder of the game.
Sunday’s loss means the Giants have started a season 0-2 for the 10th time in the last 12 years. With a 6 game gauntlet on Big Blue’s horizon, things will most likely get a hell of a lot worse before they get better. Somehow, some way, this team needs to figure out a way to learn how to win. Whether that means converting on that 4th down, or deciding to roster an able kicker, things need to change - otherwise bald, sunburnt heads will be rolling.
