Resurgent Giants beat toothless Redskins
EAST RUTHERORD >> It’s worth noting, before anything else, that the Redskins are a dumpster fire. They came into Sunday’s game at 0-3. Jay Gruden may be the first coach to lose his job this season. And to make matters worse, they were down their best receiver and two starting offensive linemen against the Giants.
Still, the way that the Giants’ defense performed in the 24-3 win at MetLife Stadium was encouraging.
“Any time you can come out and perform together at a high level, it’s motivation for everybody,” outside linebacker Markus Golden said. “You get to watch the film, watch everybody flying around. I felt the energy. Everybody was celebrating and having a good time, so that’s always good news, always good for everybody to feed off of.”
This was a unit that had allowed a league-worst 23.3 first-half points per game and the second-most passing yards per attempt (10.2 — marginally better than Miami) through the first three weeks. Any improvement matters when you’re that inept, especially when you consider much it was the result of first-year players growing.
Rookie linebacker Ryan Connelly, stepping in as the defensive signal-caller with Alec Ogletree out because of injury, set the tone by intercepting a Case Keenum pass on the game’s first drive when cornerback Janoris Jenkins tipped a pass in the slot. The fifth-round pick out of Wisconsin has shown impressive awareness and anticipation since arriving in New York in the spring.
After the offense put the Giants ahead, 7-0, Connelly made his presence known again by sacking Keenum on second down, setting up a difficult third-and-11 for Washington. Golden finished the job with a quarterback hit as Keenum rolled outside the pocket and fired an incompletion.
Rookie defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, the Giants’ second-round pick, provided nice penetration and hurried Keenum on both plays. Later on during a third-quarter drive, rookie outside linebacker Oshane Ximines split a sack with Golden and had a pass breakup.
“You’ve got to study up, you’ve got to go out there and be hard on yourself to want to do your job. And that’s what everybody’s been doing,” Golden said. “We’ve just been in practice working hard, staying together and just staying with each other, man, and it’s been working.”
Unfortunately for Connelly, who was building a case to be the team’s best inside linebacker so far this season, he was carted off the field with 12:24 remaining in the fourth quarter with a knee injury. The team will know more Monday about the extent of the injury.
Early on Sunday, it was also clear that this young defense will function better the less that it’s thrust onto the field. The Redskins committed a crucial holding penalty on the Giants’ second drive, and the Giants’ offense responded by keeping the defense on the sideline for another nine plays and scoring its second touchdown early in the second quarter.
With 6:35 left in the first half, the Redskins turned to rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins for his NFL debut. Haskins made a pair of nice reads in the passing game before using his feet to move Washington to the 1-yard line. But the Giants’ defense stood tall as linebacker David Mayo and lineman B.J. Hill combined to drop Adrian Peterson for a 2-yard loss. The Redskins eventually settled for a field goal.
“Haskins, he’s a little bit mobile, but (their offense) didn’t change today,” Golden said. “We were just out there getting after the quarterback no matter what.”
The defense made more game-changing plays in the second half. Two snaps after running back Jon Hilliman fumbled in the red zone, strong safety Jabrill Peppers jumped a route, intercepted a Haskins pass and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown. Nose tackle Dalvin Tomlinson had a quarterback hit on the play.
“I definitely felt like this was a great game for me to come out here and be myself, maybe change the narrative little bit,” said Peppers, who had a quiet first three weeks after being acquired from Cleveland this offseason in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade. “It definitely feels good, but I’ve got to go out there and make more (plays). We’re 2-2, we can’t feel ourselves too much. It’s a long season ahead. We’re going to see those guys again, but it definitely feels good.”
Jenkins got into the act with two interceptions on consecutive fourth-quarter drives — an effort the veteran sorely needed after being exposed repeatedly in coverage last week by Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans.
By the end of it, the Giants had limited Washington’s quarterbacks to 15of-28 passing for 121 yards with four interceptions. The Redskins converted just 2-of-11 third downs and averaged a measly 3.7 yards per play.
“We just made some tweaks, some things that we felt helped us,” head coach Pat Shurmur said. “Any time you see the quarterback have to hold the ball and then look around, that means you were doing something good in the back end. I thought we played much better on defense all the way around, and certainly the secondary had a lot of really good moments.”