Giants-Commanders ‘things I think’: The kids might be alright … someday

Growing pains continue for young Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As has happened a number of times this season, there was a realization Sunday evening in a somber New York Giants’ locker room that they had once again allowed a winnable football to slip through their fingers.

The Giants fought through a difficult first half and closed within one score twice in the second half on Sunday, but couldn’t make enough plays and lost to the Washington Commanders, 27-22.

Here are some ‘things I think’ after a loss that saw the Giants sink to 2-7.

Youth wasn’t served

The Giants have one of the youngest rosters in the NFL. Edge defender Brian Burns, one of the team’s veteran leaders, said after Monday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that “we’ve got to grow up.”

Young players were at the center of Sunday’s loss to the Commanders.

• Cornerback Deonte Banks, at the center of controversy recently regarding effort-related issues and coming off a Monday night benching against the Steelers, was victimized for two touchdown passes by Washington’s star wide receiver Terry McLaurin. Here is Banks on both touchdowns:

• With the Giants trailing 14-7 with less than two minutes left in the first half, rookie cornerback Dru Phillips missed an open field tackle that led to a 24-yard gain by Commanders’ wide receiver Dyami Brown. Jayden Daniels hit McLaurin for an 18-yard touchdown on the next play.

Phillips was despondent about not making the play.

“If I get that tackle on that third down, that [touchdown] doesn’t happen,” Phillips said. “I’ll take it on the chin; I don’t care. I gotta be better. I gotta be better on my details. I gotta grow up.

“We’re playing a technique. I’m supposed to take the underneath. We’re supposed to switch on McLaurin. Yeah. I’m supposed to do that. That’s, that’s me. I gotta be better for this team, for [Banks], for this organization.”

• With the Giants having closed within 27-22 on a 35-yard pass from Daniel Jones to Theo Johnson with 2:48 to play, the Giants needed a stop to have a final chance for a come-from-behind victory.

That chance went down the drain on second-and-nine from the Washington 31-yard line when Daniels hit a wide open Olamide Zaccheaus for 42 yards and a first down at the Giants’ 27-yard line that virtually sealed the victory for Washington.

Rookie safety Tyler Nubin took the blame for the play, looking for something underneath and letting Zaccheaus slide past him.

“That was on me,” Nubin said. “I was thinking screen.”

Nubin, a second-round pick who has played every defensive snap, said he was “very frustrated” by the continued losing.

“I want to win. Everybody in here wants to win,” Nubin said. “We got people in here that work hard every week. Do the right things. Come to practice. Practice hard. We’re not getting the results that we want.”

• Rookie tight end Theo Johnson had a a 35-yard touchdown grab, the first touchdown of his career. There were three other plays Johnson could have, and maybe should have, made. I don’t know how many of those will be considered drops, but you could tell by his on-field reactions that Johnson felt he had a chance to make those plays.

Rakeem Nunez-Roches, in his 10th NFL season, said the Giants are where they are because of their own shortcomings.

“When you look at the film and you look at the execution it’s understandable why we are where we’re at,” he said. “Fundamentally you have to be better. (10:35) Situationally you have to be better. Until we correct those, and I mean from a personal standpoint, from a player standpoint, not a coaching standpoint you’re going to continue to get the same results.”

Nunez-Roches emphasized the point that other veteran leaders, like Burns, has been making. That young players on the Giants roster need to be more vigilant.

“Sometimes I feel like guys don’t understand the importance of the small details. The importance of doing your job,” Nunez-Roches said. “Coming from full ride scholarships, now this is the way we make our living. It’s a different shift.

“Yes it’s supposed to be fun but this is your job. This is your career. A lot of these mistakes come with being young. At the same time you can only be young for so long before we move on to the next.”

Shoe on the other foot

For most of the season, the defense has given the Giants a chance to win while the offense has been the ball and chain dragging the Giants down.

On Sunday, the script was flipped.

After the Giants rebounded from an early turnover, grinding out an impressive 16-play, 73-yard drive that took 9:43 and tied the score at 7-7, the defense surrendered touchdown drives of 70 and 87 yards on Washington’s next two possessions, putting the Giants in a 21-7 halftime hole.

Yes, Daniel Jones had 0 passing yards in the first half. A leaky offensive line and the fact that the defense couldn’t get off the field conspired to make that weird stat a reality.

In the second half, the Giants scored on all three offensive possessions.

When the Giants pulled within 24-16 with 9:25 to play, the defense gave up an 11-play, 63-yard drive that chewed up 5:39 and led to an Austin Siebert field goal to again make it a two-score game.

When the offense pulled the Giants within five on the Jones to Johnson 35-yard score, the defense needed a stop. Instead, the Commanders ran off nine plays, got three first downs, and chewed up the remaining 2:48.

“I think the offense played well enough for us to win. Defense just got beat up today,” said star defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence. “They gave us a chance to win, and we didn’t take advantage of it.”

Nunez-Roches agreed.

“The offense gave us the opportunity scoring wise, momentum wise,” Nunez-Roches said. “When we needed a chance to stop it or we needed to dig deep we didn’t do it. We fell short.

“Right now we’re in a situation where all three states have to play well. We’re not where we can be where this one side can dominate and the other side can take a day off or have a lax performance. Where we’re at as a team everybody has to perform well in order to get a victory.”

Bye-bye, Azeez

With the Giants at 2-7, 24-year-old edge defender Azeez Ojulari heading to free agency, and pass rush-needy contenders circling like buzzards around the carcass of the left for dead Giants, it will be a stunner if Azeez Ojulari isn’t traded by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET NFL trade deadline.

“I haven’t been told anything. I’m just one day at a time,” Ojulari said after the game. “This is where I got drafted. Blessed to be here. Blessed with the opportunity they gave me, the Giants.

“I love it here.”

Unfortunately, with Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux already taking up big chunks of the salary cap, and Ojulari likely to be able to find a bigger payday elsewhere this offseason, keeping him is a luxury the Giants probably won’t be able to afford.

Oh, those 2-point conversions

I sound like the ‘get off your lawn guy,’ but I hate chasing points when you don’t have to. For the second week in a row, head coach Brian Daboll followed the analytics by going for 2 points with his team down by eight. For the second week in a row that failed.

Had the Giants simply kicked extra points after each of their two second-half touchdowns they would have trailed by three points, 27-24, with 2:48 to play. They would have needed a Jude McAtamney field goal to force overtime.

Instead it was 27-22 and they needed a touchdown to win. It was academic, of course, because the Giants never got the ball back. Still, I think it’s a flawed approach.

“That’s something that we talk about during the week. If we get in that situation, that’s what we’re going to do. But it’s analytics-based,” Daboll said. “I felt good about what we had and they did a good job of stopping it.”

I know the analytics say you will probably make one of the two conversions, and making the first one gives you a chance to win. Missing the first one, though, puts a team in desperation mode.