Facing a quick turnaround, the Giants will look to snap their three-game losing streak when they take on the Commanders at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants went to Pittsburgh for a matchup against the Steelers on Monday Night Football this past week. Despite some flashes on both sides of the ball, the Giants wound up falling to the AFC North opponent, 26-18.
The Commanders are coming off an exhilarating 18-15 victory over the Chicago Bears in a game that saw rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels complete a Hail Mary pass as time expired for the game-winning touchdown.
This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season, and the fourth divisional game of the year for the Giants. For the Commanders, this will be only their second NFC East game of the season, as four of their final seven outings will be against the Cowboys and Eagles.
Here are five players to watch in the Week 9 divisional matchup.
WR Darius Slayton
Going up against a tough Steelers defense, Darius Slayton put together one of his best performances of the season on Monday. The veteran wideout caught four passes for a game-high 108 yards. This was his second time topping the 100-yard mark and his second-highest yardage total of the season. Slayton was on the receiving end of Daniel Jones' longest pass of the season, a 43-yard pass that set up Greg Joseph's first field goal of the game.
Slayton has been the most consistent wide receiver on the Giants since he was drafted in 2019. The 27-year-old has caught 29 passes for 420 yards and a touchdown through the first eight games, which puts him on pace to finish the year with more than 700 receiving yards for the fifth time in his six NFL seasons.
After catching just three passes for 33 yards in the first meeting against the Commanders, Slayton will look to get more involved against the NFC East foe this weekend. All three of his receptions in Week 2 came with cornerback Benjamin St. Juste in coverage. Through eight games, the fourth-year corner has allowed 31 receptions for 380 yards and three touchdowns for a passer rating against of 109.7.
View photos of the Giants on the practice field at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
WR Malik Nabers
As we've seen throughout his first NFL season, Malik Nabers was the most targeted Giants pass-catcher in Monday's game against the Steelers. The rookie wide receiver saw 13 targets and caught a team-high seven of them for 71 yards. The Giants did a good job of moving Nabers around in order to create positive matchups for the talented wideout, as three of his receptions and 40 of his receiving yards came with linebacker Patrick Queen in coverage, according to Pro Football Focus. This resulted in two first downs for the Giants.
After missing Weeks 5 and 6 due to a concussion, Nabers is seemingly back to 100 percent health. In Week 7, the rookie was on the field for 93 percent of the team's offensive snaps. That number jumped up to 99 percent of the snaps this past week, which was the most he's played since taking every offensive snap in the season opener. In those two games, Nabers has been targeted 21 times and has caught 11 passes for 112 yards.
The first matchup against the Commanders saw Nabers put together his most dominant outing of the season. In just his second NFL game, the 21-year-old caught 10 passes for a season-high 127 yards and the first touchdown of his career. The Commanders have allowed just one of the last five quarterbacks they've faced to throw for over 145 yards, although the matchups played a large role in that. Nonetheless, Nabers and the rest of the Giants' offense will take on a Commanders defense playing much better football lately compared to early in the season.
OLB Azeez Ojulari
When it comes to the Giants' pass rush, Dexter Lawrence has garnered much of the attention this season, and rightfully so. But Azeez Ojulari has put together a strong stretch of games, including Monday's performance in Pittsburgh. The fourth-year outside linebacker sacked Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson twice and finished tied for third on the team with seven total tackles.
This was Ojulari's second multiple-sack outing in the last three weeks, as the 24-year-old has recorded five total sacks during that span. Ojulari is now second on the team with six sacks on the season, despite playing less than 45 percent of the defensive snaps over the first five games. He is also tied for 10th in the NFL in sacks.
Ojulari played just 22 defensive snaps in the first game against the Commanders, finishing with three total tackles (one solo), including a tackle for loss. In six career games against Washington, he has registered 2.5 sacks, seven quarterback hits, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Starting left tackle Cornelius Lucas suffered an ankle injury in last week's game and has not participated in practice so far this week. Trent Scott filled in for him last week and allowed three total pressures on 21 pass blocking snaps.
OLB Brian Burns
Ojulari isn't the only Giants pass rusher on a bit of a hot streak. Brian Burns matched his fellow outside linebacker with a team-high four pressures against the Steelers, including his fifth sack of the season. In addition to his sack of Russell Wilson, Burns finished the game with a season-high three quarterback hits, while his five total tackles represented his second-highest total of the season.
After going the first two games of the season without an impact play, Burns has been on a roll ever since. The 26-year-old has five sacks over the last six games, including one sack in each of the last four outings. Burns has eight total quarterback hits during this four-game stretch, and has registered at least one tackle for loss in each of the last six games. He is currently on pace to set a new career-high in quarterback hits.
While Burns did not get to Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels in the first meeting between the two teams, the Giants' defense as a whole did. The Giants racked up five sacks against the rookie quarterback in Week 2. Daniels has not been sacked more than three times in any other game this season. As mentioned above, the Commanders could be without starting left tackle Cornelius Lucas this weekend. Meanwhile, starting right tackle Andrew Wylie surrendered three total pressures to the Bears last week.
ILB Bobby Okereke
Bobby Okereke is coming off his most dominant overall performance of the 2024 campaign, as the sixth-year linebacker registered a season-high 14 total tackles (seven solo) against the Steelers. The team captain also made his best play of the season on Monday, as he and fellow inside linebacker Micah McFadden combined for a sack of Russell Wilson late in the fourth quarter. Okereke was able to punch the ball out of Wilson's hands before recovering the fumble himself, setting the Giants up on the Steelers' side of the field with a chance to tie the game.
Surprisingly, this was Okereke's first game with double-digit tackles this season after he had seven such outings last year. However, the inside linebacker already has two sacks through eight games and is now just a half-sack shy of matching his previous career-high set last season. Okereke has recorded 55 total tackles (28 solo) with two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two passes defensed on the year while playing 100 percent of the team's defensive snaps in seven of eight games.
Okereke picked up his first sack of the season in the first game against the Commanders and finished the game with two tackles for loss. McFadden also registered a sack in that game, as the two inside linebackers combined for four total pressures. In last week's win, the Commanders allowed Bears inside linebacker T.J. Edwards to pick up his first sack of the season.
View photos from the all-time series between the New York Giants and the Washington Commanders.
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