Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels is likely to face a different version of the New York Giants on Sunday when the second overall draft pick and the surprising Commanders visit MetLife Stadium.
The Giants will be the first team he faces again in a turnaround year that has seen the NFL offensive rookie of the year front-runner lead the Commanders to a 6-2 record and first place in the NFC East.
About 50 days ago, Daniels helped the Commanders win 21-18 against the Giants (2-6). New York believed they should have won that game but lost after kicker Graham Gano got hurt on the opening kickoff. The Giants scored three touchdowns but missed all their extra points, including two failed 2-point conversions.
“It’s going to be a different game,” said Daniels, whose most recent highlight was a last-second Hail Mary touchdown throw to Noah Brown to beat the Bears last week. “It’s going to be different from Week 2 to now.
Obviously, they’ve grown as a defense and a team. We’ve grown as an offense and the team. It’ll be fun to go out there and play a division foe again.” While the Commanders are feeling good about themselves, the Giants have lost three straight games.
“I’m more frustrated knowing that we can win and we’re not winning,” said Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who leads the league with nine sacks.
The first game against the Commanders showed this perfectly. With the score tied late and New York in position for a go-ahead field goal, coach Brian Daboll decided to go for a first down on fourth-and-4 from the Washington 22.
Malik Nabers, a teammate of Daniels’ at LSU, dropped the pass around the 10-yard line with 2:09 left to play. Washington took over, and Daniels led the offense 65 yards in eight plays, setting up Austin Seibert’s game-winning field goal.
Giants rookie safety Tyler Nubin believes his team has talent. “We just don’t make enough plays to win the game,” he said.
Washington coach Dan Quinn has spent many years as a defensive coordinator and understands that the Giants will have some new strategies to challenge Daniels. He emphasized that the key for any defense is to prepare well and perform on the field.
“But usually in a division game, there’s a couple things you keep in your back pocket for the second lap,” Quinn said.
Winning against Chicago with Daniels’ 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass was one of the most thrilling plays in the league this season. Now the Commanders need to move on from that moment.
“It’s going to be a play that’s going to be replayed for the next however many years and however many years after that,” rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil said.
“That’s going to be a play that’s in the history of football now. We’re not going to stop seeing it for a while. But we’ve done a great job of being able to shift focus to our next opponent.”
