- Time doesn’t run out on Commanders. Five weeks prior, Jayden Daniels and the Commanders bungled a seemingly sure win and settled for a tie against the Giants. Trailing by four points on Thursday night with eight minutes to play, Daniels threw his first two interceptions of the season on back-to-back drives. Having struggled over the past two years to pull out wins of any kind, but having squandered one-score verdicts aplenty, Daniels and Co. seemed destined for another late-game collapse. The defense stepped up, though, and so did Daniels with one more chance. Jump-started by a controversial defensive pass interference call drawn by Treylon BurksDaniels found Stefon Diggs over the middle and the veteran turned it into a 32-yard, game-winning touchdown. In an otherworldly rookie season in which Daniels captained the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game, there was a magical feel and magical outcomes. Remember the Hail Mary versus the Bears? (I do). During Daniels’ rookie year, Washington was 8-4 in one-score games. Since, it’s gone 4-8-1, with that fourth win coming Thursday. It was a game in which Daniels was almost certainly targeting Diggs on a 1-yard TD pass to Ben Sinnott with 5 seconds to go in the first half. Sinnott had one catch on the season before catching four for 42 yards and the TD in this one, thanks largely to Chigoziem Okonkwo missing much of the game dealing with a back injury. Daniels completed 23 of his 33 pass attempts for 249 yards, three touchdowns and two picks after his first 207 passes of the season went without a single INT. For the first time in a long time, Daniels and the Commanders provided a bit of a charmed feel. With the triumph, the Commanders now have a 19% playoff probability as they sit in third place in the NFC East at 3-5-1. However, at 1-0-1 against the first-place Giants (5-3-1), they hold the tiebreaker. Odds are slim that Washington will punch a postseason ticket, but time didn’t run out on Thursday. Daniels and the Commanders have that at the very least.
- Giants’ offense goes bust in clutch. Amid a tumultuous start to his career, J.J. McCarthy was still lauded for his intangibles as a leader and a player with a knack for winning. On Thursday night, McCarthy was aiming to improve to 3-0 since taking over as the Giants starter and extend his NFL-best six-game winning streak, which dated back to a 31-0 win over Jayden Daniels and the Commanders in Week 14 of last season as a member of the Vikings. However, a McCarthy third-down interception to Rasul Douglas on a deep throw with 25 seconds to play sealed a Giants loss. It mired an otherwise solid night for McCarthy and brought the Giants back down to earth after two straight wins, both coming by eight points or fewer. McCarthy had 293 yards passing on the night, his biggest offensive play — and that of the game until Daniels’ game-winning TD toss — came on a fastball through a two-Commander tight window to his favorite target, Isaiah Likely (nine receptions for 127 yards), that Likely zoomed in for a 66-yard score and a lead with just more than eight minutes to play. With Cam Tax House back from a week off with a hamstring injury, New York’s offense outgained Washington, 399-340, in the back-and-forth affair. Skattebo had a pair of TDs and 78 yards on the ground, McCarthy adding 34 by foot on the soggy night. But over the Giants’ last three possessions, they went nowhere when time and a little bit of yardage would have wrapped up a W. Prior to New York’s final drive and McCarthy’s interception, the Big Blue offense ran six plays, gained 10 yards and took up less than three minutes of clock over its two previous possessions. When that unit needed to come through, it didn’t.
- Jayden could use some help. Tight end Ben Sinnott came out of nowhere with his four grabs for 42 yards, including a 24-yarder and a touchdown with half of his catches equating to first downs. Stefon Diggs had the game-winner score as part of a six-catch night for 83 yards. Rookie Antonio Williams contributed a 31-yard score. Still, at this point it’s clear that Jayden Daniels has to play borderline spectacular ball for the Washington offense to lead the team to a win. Daniels used his legs to gash the Giants in the teams’ first meeting, but New York’s clear game plan in this one was to curtail that, often expunging QB pressure to prevent Daniels from escaping the pocket and gaining ground. Daniels had 28 rushing yards on 11 carries, just as many as the team’s leading rusher Rachaad White (47 yards). The losses of Terry McLaurin and Jacory Croskey-Merritt have presumably depleted the offense to the nth degree. Those absences not withstanding, Washington would hope and clearly needs someone other than a veteran Diggs to emerge. Even in a win, Washington’s noticeable lack of offensive firepower is glaring — and an indictment on the front office. For as much attention as there’s been regarding Daniels and first-year offensive coordinator David Blough still being a work in progress, the questionable roster building has to be called to attention.
- NFC East defensive rookies. Though this has hardly been a glorious season for the NFC East so far, it could be looked back upon as the starting point for a new galaxy of defensive stars. The Cowboys’ Caleb Downs (No. 11 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft) is starting to live up to the sky-high potential so many had for him, and Thursday night’s first-rounders Sonny Styles (No. 7) and Bill Reese (No. 5) continued excellent debut campaigns. The former Ohio State teammates reunited and left the field as the game’s leading tacklers. They were all over the field, Reese leading the Giants with 13 tackles, and Styles matching him with 13 of his own and adding four QB pressures for the Commanders. Regardless of how this night went and the season concludes, Styles, Reese and the NFC East portend to have plenty of autumns ahead with these burgeoning defenders becoming cornerstones.
- NYG still in good spot. Jevon Holland’s fourth-quarter interception wasn’t only the first of the season for Jayden Daniels, it was also the first for the Giants since Week 5. Then, Ar’Darius Washington added another during an excellent outing for the former Raven. A week after being held to 80 yards rushing, the G-Men had 116 even though Skattebo and McCarthy combined for 22 of the team’s 25 carries. McCarthy played solid overall. A nail-biting division defeat is never great, but it’s hard to indict the Giants too much. New York is 5-3-1, leading second-place Dallas (4-5) by a healthy(ish) margin. The schedule stiffens with matchups against the Jaguars, 49ers and Seahawks over the next four games, but the Giants remain in the driver’s seat for the NFC East title — which would be their first since 2011, when the franchise last won a Super Bowl. Nothing’s going to come easy for this squad, but Thursday night is no reason for a funeral.
Next Gen Stats Insight for Commanders-Giants (via NFL Pro): Giants QB J.J. McCarthy was blitzed on 50% of his dropbacks in the second half against the Commanders, up from 28.6% in the first half. McCarthy completed 8 of 14 attempts against the blitz for 155 yards, a touchdown and an interception, recording career highs in completions and passing yards against the blitz in a game. After completing the 66-yard touchdown to Isaiah Likely, McCarthy went 0-for-3 with an interception against the Commanders’ blitzes. Washington safety Nick Cross blitzed eight times, generating five pressures — a career best.
NFL Research: Jayden Daniels improved to 4-0-1 in his career versus the Giants. The win came thanks to his 32-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs with 57 seconds left. It’s the second game-winning TD Diggs has caught in his career with less than a minute remaining. The first was for the Vikings in the 2017 Divisional Round, famously known as the “Minneapolis Miracle.”
Source: www.nfl.com
