New York Giants: Week 3 Instant Reaction

By Nikhil Potpally | Sep 25, 2015

We list our quick takeaways from Thursday night’s 32-21 New York Giants Week 3 win over the Washington Redskins.

Sep 24, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (10) scrambles away from Washington Redskins linebacker Trent Murphy (93) during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Eli Manning realized that Rueben Randle is still on the team. Manning found Randle seven times for 116 yards and a touchdown. All it took was the Giants to cut Preston Parker for him to come to that realization.

Don’t guard Odell Beckham Jr. 1 v 1. But we already knew that.

The Giants always have an interception-fest every time they face Kirk Cousins. We knew that too.

Their run defense isn’t all that bad. Two weeks ago, they held the Cowboys’ running back committee reasonably in check. Last week, the Falcons couldn’t muster up a strong running game. This week, the Redskins, who had one of the top rushing attacks through the first 2 weeks, could not establish their running game.

Fans still cannot breathe a sigh of relief, even if the Giants enter the fourth quarter with a double-digit leads. The Redskins were able to march down the field during the final 15 minutes and put up many points on the board. For a second, I thought was seeing Cowboys and Falcons flashbacks. They didn’t collapse, but fans remained on the edge of their seats.

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The 4th quarter defense still cannot be trusted. While the Redskins scored two TDs in the fourth quarter (one on a kick return), Cousins and the Redskins were able to shred the Giants’ defense in the final quarter. If not for a Matt Jones fumble in the end zone, Washington could have scored another TD. The defense really needs to learn how to play a full 60 minutes.

There were too many unnecessary penalties for the Giants. The biggest one was Prince Amukamara‘s illegal contact on the 4th & long to Pierre Garcon.

Tom Coughlin ALMOST finished the game error-free. There were no clock management mishaps this game. However, he did throw his challenge flag on the Chris Thompson TD, burning a timeout because you can’t challenge scoring plays.

The Giants were able to dominate time of possession for most of the game. Through the first three quarters, it seemed like the Redskins barely touched the ball. As been the recurring theme of the season, fourth quarter clock burning still could use much improvement.

Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo finally picked up a copy of “Play Calling 101”.

Both he and Jerry Reese can relax, for now.

The overpaid special teams unit, which was excellent the first 2 weeks of the season, was pretty bad. The blocked punt by Rashad Jennings early on was positive, but after that, they allowed a long kickoff return touchdown and almost messed up two separate onside recoveries.

The entire fan base is wishing that they could play the Redskins 16 times a year.

Thursday’s win was much-needed for the Giants, but it cannot be overblown. They only beat the Redskins, not the Packers. This sloppy win does not make up for the embarrassments in Weeks 1 & 2. The Giants are still not in first place in their division, but at least they can get the bad taste out of their mouths (for now).

Next: Giants avoid Week 3 collapse

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