Giants @ Commanders
Final Score: Commanders 21, Giants 6
Writer: Matthew Bevins (MattBQBList on Reddit)
It’s finally regular season for the NFL, and you can crack that can and set up that snack table with all the goodies. We start the season in Maryland at Northwest Stadium, where we check in on two teams in the NFC East that are trending in different directions. The Commanders are on the very early end of his career, but it’s very apparent that Jayden Daniels was the right pick in the draft, as he’s beginning to build a bit of excitement and optimism for their local fans. On the other side of the coin is the Giants franchise. who have conceded they didn’t have it going right with Daniel Jones and are bringing in a short-term Russell Wilson while they build up Jaxson Dart. As I discussed with a friend, it’s tough to say for sure, but there doesn’t seem to be much reason to rush Dart, as the offensive line for the Giants begins another year of subpar play, where their quarterback feels constant pressure and runners’ boxes implode in front of them.
Three Up
- Jayden Daniels – A big win, and something the team will likely build upon, in a game where his number one weapon wasn’t truly exposed and operational. Daniels is showing that he can win in tight games and also control games where not everything is entirely clicking correctly.
- Deebo Samuel – Deebo Samuel had an unceremonious exit from the Niners, and it seemed like they were so anxious to get them out the door, they didn’t even keep him on with a less-than-favorable receiver situation in San Francisco. Well, Deebo ain’t done yet. He looked spry, played with speed, and made it through a whole game (to be honest, the biggest hurdle for him normally).
- Malik Nabers – The game didn’t get taken over by Malik Nabers, as we’ve already seen a few times in his early career, but he still managed to fill up a box score and help out Russell Wilson.
Three Down
- Giants offensive line – It feels like Bill Murray should be somewhere around this offensive line, as dealing with their performance is often akin to Groundhog Day. Every year, time in and time out, we’re forced to watch a Giants quarterback, rushing in anxiety out of bursting quarterback pockets. In the next breath, the quarterback will hear an earful from the media about their inability to succeed.
- Giants running back duo – It feels like there was much discussion in the offseason before fantasy drafts about whether Cam Skattebo was taking over a Giants backfield over Tyrone Tracy, or if handcuffing Tracy would even be necessary if Tracy was truly what we saw glimpses of last season. That could still be an issue, but the bigger problem may be that whoever gets those carries may just be taking more lumps while gaining little yards. Tracy and Skattebo only shared 12 rushes between the two of them, as the Giants were attempting to build a comeback for the majority of the game. The rushes combined for 21 yards, so it wasn’t as if either was worth owning in fantasy this week. This could plague them often if they’re trailing and in catch-up games all year, and throwing the football.
- Austin Ekeler – Austin Ekeler isn’t fully washed. However, he is now in a Commanders timeshare that will likely segue into Jacory Croskey-Merritt by the end of the month. Ekeler rushed 6 times and averaged more than four yards per carry, but he was the 4th valued “rusher” fantasy-wise behind Deebo, Jacory, and Jayden. I could see this being the case a lot this year.
New York Giants
Quarterback
Russell Wilson-17/37, 168 Yards | 8 carries, 44 yards
Well, maybe the player at quarterback isn’t the problem for the Giants. Has anyone ever really thought about that? Wilson didn’t look terrible, but his ability to get the offense going was absolutely painful. Nabers was covered and held down by Marshon Lattimore almost the entire game, and there was not much room for separation and game-breaking plays. Wilson rushed just two times less than Tyrone Tracy, a sign that he was in constant movement from the pocket, but that was about the only thing he was able to do well was get some decent rushing yards. Wilson and his crew ended the first quarter and started up the second quarter with a very long and productive drive, only to watch Wilson not be able to finish off the drive with a touchdown, even after the team was given an extra set of downs due to a penalty. It’s just Week 1, but I’m already calling the talks by Week 8 that Wilson gets out from behind center in favor of Jameis Winston or Jaxson Dart, to create similar results. There’s not much here for fantasy value, and as of right now, I’m not entirely sure if you’d even want to use him in a busy bye week.
Running Back
Tyrone Tracy- 10 carries, 24 yards | 5 targets, 2 receptions, 11 yards
Cam Skattebo- 2 carries, -3 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 12 yards
Tyrone Tracy and Skattebo have the de facto #1 and #2 spots in the running back depth chart, but Skattebo may not be able to get in games for a lot longer if he continues to underproduce. Skattebo had more yards receiving (12) than he did on the ground today (-3), and it seems like Tracy has the more reliable amount of carries going forward. Neither of them did much of note today, but neither did the whole team. Tracy only had a meager 2 points something yards per carry, but he may entertain more rushes just do to last year’s “work” in the role, while this team likely continues on a trajectory towards an under .500 season where they just want to have a few things that remind them of what went right last year. The fact of the matter will be that while Tracy has more potential and now more opportunity, there’s no way in bad matchups against strong defenses, where I’d see either of these guys as anything more than a FLEX option.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
Malik Nabers – 12 targets, 5 receptions, 71 yards
Wan’Dale Robinson- 8 targets, 6 receptions, 55 yards
Daniel Bellinger – 1 target, 1 reception, 14 yards
Theo Johnson – 3 targets, 1 reception, 5 yards
The Giants’ receiving room has an alpha in Malik Nabers, followed by a volume receiver in Wan’Dale Robinson, and then there is a general muck of receivers underneath them that could either show for a flash in the pan or have no relevance almost every week. If you want reliable, I wouldn’t be open to doing much more than Nabers in your top 15 receivers, and Wan’Dale around top 30. Wilson tried to get more passes out, but ended up flushed out of the pocket often, and that led to some highly ineffective passes. The biggest memory of the passing game today was watching Nabers work his way back to a couple of passes where Wilson had underthrown him in a panic. While I haven’t seen it recorded just yet, Wilson likely had less than a good 5 seconds in the pocket average today, and it shows in the box score. Nabers is going to be able to outwork less dominant corners like Lattimore at times this season, but if he’s unable to have enough time to separate or break matchups, then the key aspects of his performances may be muted, and someone who suffers a fall to a second tier of receivers. For now, chalk this one up to a lost game and hope that he starts that trajectory next week.
Washington Commanders
Quarterback
Jayden Daniels- 19/30, 233 Yards, 1 TD | 11 carries, 68 yards
Jayden Daniels saw himself coming out of LSU to much excitement as to what he could become, with not many knowing what his ceiling and floor could be just yet. After a season and one week, it’s very clear that Daniels is a professional who has a massive career ahead, for both fantasy and real-life football. Daniels, in some measurements, was the best fantasy football quarterback last year, and ended the preseason with an average draft position of third quarterback off the board.
If you took him there, that consistency at fantasy quarterback may just pan out. Daniels has a killer arm, accurate and at times able to throw huge passes. What we got today was a mostly intermediate passing route game, where the Commanders did their best not to give the ball back to the Giants while outpacing them from the beginning of the game. Daniels found Terry McLaurin at times, hot off a huge new contract, but it was mostly going to be a game of keep away, where they likely saw early they didn’t need to impose much firepower to win. Daniels is a legitimate top 5 fantasy quarterback, and we will see some box scores where he gets close to 400 yards or two rushing touchdowns, but just water down expectations against lower competition.
Running Backs
Austin Ekeler- 6 carries, 26 yards | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 31 yards
Jacory Croskey-Merritt- 10 carries, 81 yards, 1 TD | 1 target, 0 receptions
Jeremy McNichols- 4 carries, 25 yards
The running room needs to realize Bill, aka Jacory Croskey-Merritt, is the number one back here sooner rather than later, because it’s clear even as soon as this week that he has the most upside of the backs here. Jeremy McNichols seems like a great guy, but I don’t understand how he’s still a thing after washing out in Tennessee. Now he’s back, and looking to hone in on some carries to be sifted off of Ekeler and Merritt, but really, the issue lies in the fact that Merritt needs to get to seventy percent of this backfield. He started his ascension today, averaging 8 yards per carry, as well as a very nifty rushing touchdown. Around 8 yards stood between him and paydirt on his touchdown conversion, where he took a handoff from Daniels, ran into a potential lineman in front of him, and second bounce out to the edge with an untouched touchdown conversion. Ekeler is going to continue to be the one who catches more passes, but Merritt could take this runner’s role a la Bucky Irving style. Be prepared for it.
Wide Receiver/Tight Ends
Deebo Samuel- 10 targets, 7 receptions, 77 yards | 1 carry, 19 yards, 1 TD
Terry McLaurin – 4 targets, 2 receptions, 27 yards
Zach Ertz- 5 targets. 3 receptions, 26 yards, 1 TD
Noah Brown- 3 targets, 2 receptions, 27 yards
Chris Moore- 1 target, 1 reception, 34 yards
Jaylin Lane- 2 targets, 1 reception, 11 yards
The wide receiver room situation in Washington may be a lot more interesting coming out of this week, as Deebo Samuel had a huge step up in the first week of the year, confirming his capabilities, and the fact that McLaurin may not have as much of a grip on the number one receiver role as he anticipated. Deebo saw 6 more targets, he had more separation on them, and he ended up with just under 70 more all-purpose yards thanMcLaurin by the end of the game. In a perfect world, Merritt and Deebo are dealing with about a 50/50 rushing or out of backfield situation, with McLaurin still seeing over 6 targets a game, but it’s entirely possible the issue at hand was more the Lattimore coverage over McLaurin than it was a target pie being divied up differently than we anticipated. For now, this is too much talent between the two to anticipate anything other than both being a huge piece in the ascension of this offense, as we use both as number 2 fantasy options at worst.