Giants (1-7) at Washington (2-5)
Sunday, 1 ET, Landover, Md. TV: Fox
Danny Sheridan’s line: Washington by 3 1⁄
2
Giants’ keys to victory: In the first meeting, the Giants did one of the few things they could against the Washington defense in order to succeed: take advantage of chunk plays. QB Daniel Jones had a run of 49 yards, along with a couple of pass completions for 20-plus yards. While Washington’s defense has the stats to show it’s among the best in the league, the team is susceptible to giving up points and it is now without S Landon Collins.
Washington’s keys to victory: Washington seems to have a sense of newfound confidence after a beatdown of the Cowboys before its bye week. The players will absolutely be out for revenge against a Giants team that beat them by one point three weeks ago. Washington will again need to rely on DEs Montez Sweat and Chase Young to wreak havoc up front and force the Giants into mistakes. It’s also another great chance to give RB Antonio Gibson a bigger share of the workload, with New York’s run defense being near the middle of the pack leaguewide.
Matchup to watch: Giants LT Andrew Thomas vs. Washington DE Young. We didn’t get to see this battle between top-10 picks a couple of weeks ago because Thomas was benched pregame. A player of Young’s caliber against any rookie lineman is likely to be fun to watch. This will hopefully be the first of a must-see matchup for years to come.
Who wins? There’s no way New York is good enough to sweep the season series, and a push to stay in postseason contention should have the home team motivated enough to pull this one out. Washington 20-16