Three takeaways from the Giants' Week 1 loss to the Washington Commanders
Washington Commanders punter Tress Way gets rid of the ball ahead of Giants linebacker Abdul Carter during the second half of an NFL game on Sunday in Landover, Md. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
LANDOVER, Md. — The Giants didn’t convince fans that things have changed in their season-opening loss to the Commanders. They’ve been outscored 89-12 in their last three season openers.
Here are three takeaways from the Giants’ dreadful start:
1. First impression of Abdul Carter
Carter didn’t start Sunday in his debut, but the rookie first-round pick didn’t take long to make an impact as he was used in multiple ways.
Carter lined up at defensive tackle and edge rusher and was used in punt block coverage. He had a half-sack with Kayvon Thibodeaux in the second quarter and partially blocked a punt in the third.
“Football is football. Whatever [the coaches] ask me to do, I’ll go out there and do it,” Carter said.
His best play came before halftime. Lining up at edge rusher, he rushed Jayden Daniels and forced him to throw the ball away with three seconds left. Daniels, however, was called for intentional grounding, so instead of the Commanders lining up for a field goal, there was a 10-second runoff that ended the period.
It kept the Giants trailing 14-3 instead of 17-3. Carter didn’t dominate, but he showed enough to encourage them to use him all over the field as a playmaker.
2. The defense was good, but . . .
On one hand, the Giants held the Commanders to 21 points, below their 28.5 scoring average last season. They also pressured Daniels to flush him out of the pocket and sacked him three times.
On the other hand, the defense had familiar issues carry over from last year. They gave up 220 rushing yards for a 6.9 average per carry. Even with defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence on a limited snap count, the run defense didn’t look any better with him on the field.
Much of that can be credited to Daniels’ dual-threat ability, but the Giants couldn’t get enough stops on first or second down. No matter how good this pass rush is, stopping the run is paramount.
The Giants also forced zero turnovers. The defense tried to incentivize creating takeaways by creating a turnover chest this offseason. It didn’t work. So that’s two worries about this defense from last season that remain unresolved.
3. What was that argument between Daboll and Nabers?
Between the first and second quarter, cameras caught coach Brian Daboll and receiver Malik Nabers having a heated exchange. Both downplayed it as anything other than two competitive people who care about winning.
Nabers said it’s another sign that he’s trying to be more vocal about things needing to be done a certain way to meet the team’s high standards.
“The energy wasn’t right, so I took it upon myself to try to boost people up,” he said. “It’s two competitive people going at it. He wants to win, I want to win. I feel like that’s the reason he got me over here is because of how me and him are just alike.”
Nabers had five catches for 71 yards on 12 targets. The emotions spilling out of him weren’t concerning, but if things don’t improve, he might have more to say. He isn’t shy about expressing his feelings.
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
