Daniel Jones threw his first touchdown pass at MetLife Stadium in 672 calendar days and scored three total TDs Sunday. But a late surge wasn’t enough to change the Giants’ fortunes in their fourth straight loss, a 27-22 division defeat to the Commanders.
Washington rookie phenom quarterback Jayden Daniels led five scoring drives in seven possessions before kneeling out the clock on his eight drive at the Giants’ 1-yard line instead of scoring.
“They just outplayed us,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said. “I think the offense played well enough for us to win. The defense just got beat up today.”
Giants rookie receiver Malik Nabers, who was held without a first-half catch, rationalized amid his disappointment that he’d rather build something from the ground up because “it feels better when you come from the mud and you start winning successfully.”
When asked if the Giants can do that here, though, Nabers gave an interesting answer.
“Yeah, you’ve just got to build. You’ve got to build up,” he said. “You’ve got to put the right people in place to be successful. You’ve got to get the right keys. You’ve got to get the right guys on the team to win.
“Obviously, the Commanders have done that,” he added, discussing the division rival led by Daniels, his LSU quarterback and good friend. “They’ve got the right guys that they want to be on the team, and they’re winning.”
The right guys that they want on the team? It’s difficult to interpret that as anything other than Nabers saying the Giants need different or better players.
Not that he’s wrong.
First-place Washington (7-2) swept the season series for the first time since 2021. The Giants fell to 2-7 this season, 0-5 at home and 0-4 in the NFC East. And Joe Schoen’s and Daboll’s record dropped to 4-12-1 in NFC East games since they took over in 2022.
Edge rusher Brian Burns sat on the floor next to Lawrence’s locker long after Sunday’s game was over – with both players still in their uniforms – discussing the defeat.
Lawrence resented a question about whether that scene reflected his frustration.
“If I’m talking to my teammate, that ain’t nothing for you to be concerned about,” He said. “We were just talking about the game and what we are gonna do to be better.”
Burns also preferred to keep the conversation private, but he did say that he and Lawrence had discussed “things that need to change for this week coming up.”
There was a sense postgame Sunday, however, that the changes Nabers, Burns and other Giants view as necessary are not coming anytime soon.
Jones had no first-half passing yards in this loss due mostly to play-calling and poor pass protection. Burns, Lawrence and the Giants’ pass rush generated no pressure on Daniels, recording no sacks and only two quarterback hits all afternoon.
Jones mounted a fourth quarter comeback on a 2-yard touchdown run with 9:25 to play and a 35-yard TD pass to tight end Theo Johnson with 2:48 remaining.
But Daboll unsuccessfully went for the two-point conversion after both scores, and the Giants’ defense couldn’t get a stop due to a non-existent pass rush and poor tackling.
“That’s something that we talk about during the week,” Daboll said. “If we get in that situation, that’s what we’re going to do. But it’s analytics-based. I felt good about what we had and they did a good job of stopping it.”
Jones said of failing to close the game out: “Very frustrating. Tough position. We’ve got to find a way to make some more plays and win these games. So yeah, very frustrating.”
The Commanders only scored six second-half points on two Austin Seibert field goals, while Giants rookie kicker Jude McAtamney of Derry, Ireland, made his first career field goal from 31 yards in the third quarter.
Washington’s offense still controlled the ball and clock enough, however, to stiff-arm the Giants’ late push away. The Giants now will travel to Munich, Germany, to face the Carolina Panthers (2-7), who just upset the New Orleans Saints, before New York’s bye week.
Pass rusher Azeez Ojulari might not be on the flight with the NFL trade deadline upcoming Tuesday at 4 p.m., while trade candidate and wide receiver Darius Slayton might stick around after going in the concussion protocol during Sunday’s loss.
If Ojulari is headed somewhere else, his head wasn’t there yet. He was taking Sunday’s loss hard, just like his teammates.
“Man, we’ve got to be better,” Ojulari said. “We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and see what happened and come back ready to work. They were chipping us on almost every play, but no excuses: we’ve got to be better and continue to try to impact the QB, affecting him so he doesn’t get those balls off.”
Two Daniels touchdown passes to McLaurin buried the Giants in a 21-7 hole by halftime. Jones, meanwhile, had zero passing yards, a 2-yard TD pass to tight end Chris Manhertz and 50 yards rushing at half.
McLaurin’s 18-yard TD catch with six seconds remaining in the half was a killer.
Rookies Dru Phillips and Tyler Nubin missed tackles on a back-breaking 24-yard Dyami Brown catch and run on 3rd and 18 from the Giants’ 42-yard line to set it up.
That was McLaurin’s second touchdown on corner Deonte Banks, but there was also no pressure on Daniels from the Giants’ four-man rush.
There was a gaping hole on the Giants’ D-line on Austin Ekeler’s 20-yard run to pace Washington’s second scoring drive, as well.
That run and a Daniels fourth-down conversion scramble set up an Ekeler 1-yard TD run for a 14-7 Washington lead with 6:21 remaining in the half.
Daboll, meanwhile, didn’t even feel confident enough in his offense to throw a pass with Jones.
The Giants’ coach called 16 running plays to three pass plays in the first quarter, evoking memories of last season’s loss in the rain to the Jets with Tommy DeVito at QB.
Rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Jones both gained chunks on the ground early, gaining 63 combined rushing yards on the Giants’ first five plays.
But when Daboll dropped Jones back to pass for the first time on the Giants’ sixth snap, left tackle Chris Hubbard got smoked by Commanders pass rusher Dante Fowler to force a Jones fumble.
Officials blew the play dead as incomplete, which negated Washington’s touchdown return. But the play was overturned to a fumble upon review, and it only took Daniels four plays to punch it in from 31 yards out.
A Cor’Dale Flott pass interference penalty gave Washington the ball at the 1, and Daniels hit McLaurin for a 1-yard TD on Banks for a 7-0 Commanders lead with 7:04 to play in the first quarter.
Jones and the Giants offense answered with a 16-play, 73-yard drive capped by Jones’ two-yard TD pass to Manhertz. It marked Jones’ first touchdown pass at MetLife Stadium in 672 days, a span of six consecutive games without throwing one between the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
The drive was paced by two Jones runs of 11 and 12 yards, plus an 11-yard rush by Slayton on a Chiefs-like gadget play dialed up by Daboll in the red zone.
McAtamney then made his first career NFL kick on the extra point. He got the start because Greg Joseph became the second Giants kicker to go on injured reserve this season with an oblique injury.
Those were the Giants’ only points of the first half, though.
Nabers was held to no catches on one target in the first half, as Commanders coach Dan Quinn came out with a targeted plan and double teams for the rookie receiver – and Daboll clammed up and refused to throw it until the second half.
“When you run the clock out in the first half, you’re scratching in the second half to try to score points, as many as possible,” Nabers said of the early runs. “As an offense, you’ve got to be versatile. You’ve got to be able to run. You’ve got to be able to pass. You can’t pick between half and half what you want to do. But like I said, I’m not the play caller.”
No he’s not. Daboll is. And Schoen is the GM. And something needs to change.
