Take 2: Washington gets quick second chance against Giants
LANDOVER, MD. (AP) » Ron Rivera didn’t second-guess going for 2 in the final minute and Washington losing to the New York Giants as a result.
Now, his team gets a quick second chance against the Giants on Sunday to prove “Riverboat Ron” right for his rationale of teaching players what it takes to win. Washington is rested coming off its bye, confident after routing rival Dallas, and can keep pace in the dreadful NFC East by making good on another opportunity against New York.
“We’re going to have some really good periods and some real low periods, but it’s all part of growing,” Rivera said Thursday. “Each thing that we do, I believe it’s just another part of growing, and so I’m pretty excited about
where we are right now.”
Afew weeks after amissed opportunity in a 20-19 loss at New York, Washington (2-5) can still move within a halfgame of idle, first-place Philadelphia by evening the season series with the Giants. That would make Rivera’s bunch 3-1 in the division and only increase the confidence growing around the young team.
One reason for that is Washington’s defense that’s ranked fourth in the NFL and first against the pass. A pass rush led by 2019 first-round er Montez Sweat and 2020 No. 2 pick Chase Young combines with are built secondary combined tomake these strides.
“We’ve worked hard at becoming sound in what we’re doing in the back end and limiting the number of explosive plays that we allow,” defensive coordinator Jack DelRio said .“I like the way our group has worked at it. I think we’re an improving group, but we have a lot of work to do yet as we get into the second half of the year.”
The loss of former Giants safety Land on Collins to a season ending Achilles tendon injury will make you it even more more of a challenge. Rookie Kamren Curl, a seventh-round pick, is expected to start against the Giants (1-7), who hope they also benefit from playing Washington so quickly after their first match up.
“We just have to get a good idea of their personnel ,” Logan Ryan said. “We got a jump on that from playing them. We know (receiver Terry McLaurin) is really good. We know their running backs are really good. We know their tight end had a pretty goodday, sowe have to address that.”
TALE OF TWO QUARTERBACKS
New York made Daniel Jones the second quarterback taken in the 2019 draft at No. 6, and Washington followed by selecting Dwayne Haskins at No. 15. Jones and Haskins have had each had a very different second pro season under a newcoach.
Jones is enduring some growing pains. He threw two costly interceptions ina loss Monday night to Tampa Bay to get to nine this season, and hasn’t seemed to learn how to get rid of the ball under pressure 20 starts into his NFL career.