Football Team @ Giants
Final Score: Football Team 22, Giants 7
Writer: Callen Elslager (@callen_elslager on Twitter and Reddit)
With all the exciting action on Sunday affecting playoff seeding, this game was not one of them. In a battle of NFC basement teams, the Washington Football Team picked up the easy win in their final game as the Washington Football Team, while the Giants… well, let’s just say this game summed up the Dave Gettleman era of football in New York. Neither passing attack was able to get anything going, with the main highlight-reel plays coming from Antonio Gibson, flashing the upside we all knew he had. Both teams now head into the offseason with question marks as to what the team may look like in the 2022 season.
Washington Football Team
Quarterback
Taylor Heinicke: 9/18, 120 yards | 2 carries, 3 yards
As Washington built up an early lead, their offense quickly transitioned to a run-first attack, taking the game out of Taylor Heinicke‘s hands. This was probably for the best, Heinicke’s passes throughout the game were a bit inaccurate and off-target, unable to get much of a threat going there. Though he did not have any turnovers, there were one or two passes that definitely had the potential to be picked off.
Running Back
Antonio Gibson: 21 carries, 146 yards, TD | 3 targets, 1 reception, 5 yards
Jonathan Williams: 7 carries, 45 yards
Jaret Patterson: 6 carries, 21 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 14 yards
With Antonio Gibson limited in practice throughout the week, there were some concerns as to what he may look like in the snaps he plays or that he may be limited since this game was not for any sort of playoff scenario. However, even though Jonathan Williams and Jaret Patterson mixed in more than they normally would, Antonio Gibson had arguably his best game of the season. Had you just watched this game without knowing of the injury, you would not be able to tell that Gibson was dealing with something in practice. Gibson flashed the same burst of speed with the offensive line allowing him plenty of space to work, as the Washington offense thrived on the run game. Williams and Patterson mixed into the run game more than they likely would under normal circumstances, but had similar success to Gibson, with Williams taking most of his yards on a 23-yard rush.
GIBBY. UNTOUCHED.
📺 » FOX | #WASvsNYG pic.twitter.com/tzm2P34MUX
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 9, 2022
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Terry McLaurin: 6 targets, 4 receptions, 93 yards
John Bates: 2 targets, 1 reception, 5 yards
Adam Humphries: 2 targets, 1 reception, 3 yards
DeAndre Carter: 1 target | 1 carry, 11 yards
Cam Sims: 1 target
With the Washington offense leaning heavily on its run game, there was not much noteworthy action for the Washington pass catchers. Washington’s top pass catcher remained Terry McLaurin, who had one of his best games in a few weeks with Heinicke airing the ball out downfield to him. McLaurin, while also catching a few deep balls, showed off his speed by taking off for some extra yards after the catch, to get him over 1000 yards on the season, with two of his better plays seen below. Other than McLaurin, the other pass-catchers saw some short dump-offs to keep the ball moving, while the run game remained the center of Washington’s offense.
The play that got @TheTerry_25 to 1,000 receiving yards!
📺 » FOX | #WASvsNYG pic.twitter.com/bHCoZEU3hZ
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 9, 2022
YESSIR
📺 » FOX | #WASvsNYG pic.twitter.com/I9Chibe5AD
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 9, 2022
New York Giants
Quarterback
Jake Fromm: 15/31, 103 yards, TD, 2 INT | 5 carries, 53 yards
Well in good news…..Jake Fromm led the Giants in rushing. That’s about all the nice things I can say about Jake Fromm’s performance on Sunday. Fromm threw two interceptions, with one being an undercut route by the defender that turned into a pick-six, and the other late in the game a ball thrown that just floated out of his hands to end the game and the Giants’ season on a real sour note. Fromm also felt the pressure from the Washington defense forcing some ugly passes throughout the game. It was not all sour as Fromm did find an open Darius Slayton in the end zone for the Giants’ lone touchdown of the game and the first touchdown pass of his career. Oh and here’s a fun note, he attempted a QB sneak on a third and nine inside their own ten-yard line.
Jake Fromm is so bad that the Giants called a QB sneak on 3rd & 9 🤣 https://t.co/M267P8GYRT
— Nick Saban is Kirby Smart’s Daddy (@BuiltBySaban) January 9, 2022
Fromm's first career TD pass 🙌
📺: @NFLonFOX & Giants App pic.twitter.com/yyaKHY2fDY
— New York Giants (@Giants) January 9, 2022
Fromm the quarterback's hands to Bobby McCain's 💥
📺 » FOX | #WASvsNYG pic.twitter.com/aT2N1C4kbV
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 9, 2022
THAT'S A WRAP FROM JERSEY
📺 » FOX | #WASvsNYG pic.twitter.com/M9GkghIpIA
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 9, 2022
Running Back
Saquon Barkley: 11 carries, 30 yards | 4 targets, 3 receptions, 19 yards
Devontae Booker: 8 carries, 14 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 12 yards
Elijhaa Penny: 2 targets
Whether it was because Saquon Barkley was never 100% or because it was the last game of the season, the Giants continued a clear split in their backfield with Devontae Booker. No matter which back was carrying the ball though, they were not given much space to work as the Washington front swallowed up the rusher only a few yards after the line of scrimmage. In fact, the longest rush by a player not named Jake Fromm was only 6 yards, a real testament to how rough the running game was for New York on Sunday.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Darius Slayton: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 29 yards, TD
Kenny Golladay: 5 targets, 3 receptions, 22 yards
Kyle Rudolph: 6 targets, 4 receptions, 17 yards
Evan Engram: 5 targets, 1 reception, 4 yards
Alex Bacham: 1 carry, -3 yards
David Sills V: 3 targets
With no Kadarius Toney or Sterling Shepard this week, Darius Slayton emerged to catch the lone touchdown of the game, breaking wide open over the middle for the strike from Fromm. Other than that he was held pretty quiet along with the other passing options in the Giants’ offense, such as Kenny Golladay who was held in check and out of the endzone for not just this game, but the entire season. Golladay was used to extend drives while trying to hit him downfield with no luck. Finally, while the Giants tried to work in their tight ends with Kyle Rudolph and Evan Engram, Rudolph received a few short dump offs to keep the ball moving while not having the same success getting the ball to Engram, including being the target on one of Fromm’s interceptions. This was just a mess all around.
— Callen Elslager (@callen_elslager on Twitter and Reddit)