The NFC East gets the Week 10 spotlight on Thursday night, and the setup is simple: the Giants are at home, the Commanders are trying to keep their season from slipping away, and Jayden Daniels is back in the middle of it after the teams’ first meeting ended in a tie.
That earlier matchup still hangs over this one. Washington had a chance to win it in overtime, but the offense ran out of time before it could even get a game-winning field goal attempt off. Now the Commanders return with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread at 2-5-1 after a Week 9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Daniels has done his part more often than not. He threw for 274 yards and a touchdown against the Rams, and on the season he has nine total touchdowns - seven through the air and two on the ground - without an interception.
Even so, the results have not followed. Washington’s only win with Daniels as the starter came against Philadelphia on Nov. 1, and the offense remains stuck in the bottom 12 of the league in both EPA/Play and success rate.
That’s a dangerous place to be heading into a matchup with a Giants defense that has been one of the league’s better units. New York sits No. 10 in EPA/Play on defense, and Daniels is likely to see plenty of pressure on Thursday. In the first meeting between these teams, he still managed 199 passing yards, 103 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, but the Commanders now have to deal with the same defense again while also dealing with injuries up front and at receiver.
The Giants, meanwhile, have steadied themselves through the quarterback shuffle. John Harbaugh’s team has handled Jaxson Dart’s knee injury by leaning on Jameis Winston and now J.J.
McCarthy, and the result is a 5-2-1 start. McCarthy didn’t light up the stat sheet in Sunday’s win over the Eagles - he threw for just 127 yards - but he brings more to the offense than Winston did, and New York has positioned itself well in the division after beating Philadelphia in Week 9.
That win left the Giants sitting in control of the NFC East, with the Cowboys at 4-5 as the only other team in the division with more than two victories. New York has also been one of the league’s better bets, covering in six of eight games and going 3-1 against the spread at home.
Oddsmakers have made the Giants slight favorites in this one, and the number feels modest given how the first meeting unfolded. New York survived a shaky Winston performance the last time these teams played and still came away with a tie, which is part of why it’s surprising to see the Giants only laying 1.5 points.
Washington’s path back into the division race is clear enough: win this game, and the Commanders would own the head-to-head tiebreaker after the tie earlier this season. But the broader picture is harder to ignore.
Daniels has been solid, yet the offense has not produced enough, and Washington’s defense ranks No. 19 in EPA/Play. Against a Giants team that has been more stable on both sides of the ball, that’s a tough combination to trust.
At home, the pick is New York to win outright.
In Other News...
Commanders Face An Awkward Mike Sainristil Question At Trade Deadline
The trade deadline always creates a little noise around players who are not quite fitting the way the team hoped, and Mike Sainristil has become one of those names in Washington. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated recently pointed to Sainristil and Dorance Armstrong as possible candidates to watch, a reminder that the Commanders could face some uncomfortable roster decisions as the deadline approaches.
Sainristil, a 2024 second-round pick, has seen his role and production dip this season, and he has spent most of his time on special teams lately. Even so, the Commanders have not opened trade talks involving him, and the current plan is to keep working with him rather than move on from a player they still believe can be part of the picture. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Quinn Addressed The Final Play Commanders Fans Are Still Questioning
The Commanders 20-13 loss to the Rams at home left plenty to sort through, especially with Jayden Daniels working behind a depleted offense and trying to keep Washington afloat against a defense that kept pressing. Even in defeat, there was some encouraging resistance on the other side of the ball, with Matthew Stafford limited to 228 yards, but Puka Nacua still found enough room to hurt Washington with 150 yards and a touchdown.
After the game, Dan Quinn was asked about the final play that had fans buzzing, a short throw that became the subject of immediate second-guessing. Quinn pointed to the Rams blitz as the reason the ball came out where it did and made it clear he was not pleased with how the play was carried out, leaving the late-game sequence as one more painful detail in a loss that already had enough of them. [Read more 🡒]
Adam Peters Faces A Defining Call As Commanders Hit A Crossroads
The Commanders are approaching a stretch that could shape how aggressively Adam Peters works the trade market, with the front office watching closely as the team tries to steady itself before the 2026 deadline. Injuries have thinned the roster and complicated the depth chart, leaving Washington in a spot where every game now carries extra weight for a team trying to stay in the playoff conversation.
A key matchup with the Rams looms as a useful checkpoint, not just for the standings but for the bigger question of what Peters should do next. If Washington can keep its record moving in the right direction, the deadline could become a chance to add help rather than simply endure the attrition, but a setback would only sharpen the pressure on a general manager already facing one of his most consequential calls. [Read more 🡒]