Giants vs. Washington tale of the tape

The Giants will look to rebound from their season-opening loss this Thursday when they hit the road to take on the Washington Football Team at FedExField.

Washington began the season with a home loss against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers outgained Washington, 424-259, and Washington QB Ryan Fitzpatrick hurt his hip in the first half, leading to Taylor Heinicke filling in at QB. The Chargers emerged with a 20-16 victory. Heinicke will get the start this week after Fitzpatrick was placed on injured reserve.

The Giants won both meetings between the clubs last season. In fact, Big Blue has won the last five games between the division opponents, including each of the last three at FedExField.

Here are notes for players on both teams ahead of the Week 2 matchup on Thursday Night Football.

*HC Joe Judge is 2-0 vs. Washington since taking over as head coach of the Giants in 2020.

*HC Ron Rivera is 3-3 vs. the Giants between his time as head coach of Washington and Carolina.

*QB Daniel Jones passed for 267 yards & had 2 TDs (1 pass, 1 rush) in Week 1. Has 8 TDs vs. 3 INTs for 100 rating in 4 career starts vs. Was. Aims for his 3rd in row at Was. with TD pass vs. 0 INTs & 90+ rating.

*QB Taylor Heinicke completed 11 of 15 attempts (73.3 pct.) for 122 yards & TD vs. 0 INTs for 119.3 rating in Week 1. Incl. postseason, aims for his 3rd game in row with TD pass.

*RB Saquon Barkley had career-high 279 scrimmage yards (carer-high 189 rush, 90 rec.) & 2 TDs (1 rush, 1 rec.) in his last game vs. Was. (12/22/19). Has 587 scrimmage yards (195.7 per game) in 3 career games vs. Was. & aims for his 3rd in row at Was. with 195+ scrimmage yards & TD. Had 229 scrimmage yards (130 rush, 99 rec.) & rush TD in only career game on TNF (10/11/18 vs. Phi.).

*RB Antonio Gibson totaled 108 scrimmage yards (90 rush, 18 rec.) in Week 1. Had rush TD in last meeting. Had 115 rush yards & 3 rush TDs in only career game on Thursday (11/26/20 at Dal.). RB J.D. McKissic aims for his 3rd in row vs. NYG with 5+ catches & 80+ scrimmage yards.

*WR Sterling Shepard led team with 7 receptions for 113 yards & TD catch last week, his 10th-career 100-yard game. Has rec. TD in 2 of his past 3 at Was. Has rec. TD in 2 of his 3 career games on TNF. WR Kenny Golladay had 64 rec. yards in Week 1. Aims for his 3rd in row on Thursday with 90+ rec. yards.

*WR Terry McLaurin had team-high 62 rec. yards last week. Had 7 catches for 115 yards & TD in last meeting. Aims for his 4th in row vs. NYG with 7+ catches & 70+ rec. yards. TE Logan Thomas had rec. TD in Week 1. Has 6 rec. TDs in his past 7 vs. NFC East.

*DB Logan Ryan led team with 10 tackles, his 5th-career 10+ tackle game, & had FF & FR in Week 1. Has 5 PD, 2 INTs, FF & sack in 3 career games vs. Was. Aims for his 3rd in row on TNF with PD. LB Blake Martinez had 9 tackles last week. Had 10 tackles & INT in last meeting. Aims for his 5th in row vs. Was. with 9+ tackles. CB James Bradberry had PD in Week 1. DL Leonard Williams aims for his 3rd in row vs. Was. with sack. Rookie LB Azeez Ojulari had 1st-career sack in Week 1.

*DE Chase Young had sack in last meeting. Had sack in only career game on Thursday (11/26/20 at Dal.). Has 4.5 sacks & 5 TFL in 6 career games vs. NFC East & aims for his 4th in row vs. division with sack. DE Montez Sweat had sack & FF last week. Has 3 sacks & FF in his past 3 at home vs. NFC East. Aims for his 3rd in row at home with sack. DT Jonathan Allen had sack in Week 1. Has sack in 2 of his 3 career games on Thursday. LB Cole Holcomb led team with 11 tackles last week, his 5th career game with 10+ tackles. Aims for his 3rd in row vs. NYG with TFL. CB William Jackson had 2 PD & his 4th-career INT in Week 1. CB Bobby McCain had career-high 10 tackles last week.

Giants learn from opener & move on to Washington

Joe Judge will not minimize or discount the Giants' season-opening loss to the Denver Broncos, but he hopes the Giants' reaction to the defeat proves to be much more important than the result.

"We literally have an entire season ahead of us," the team's second-year coach said after Sunday's 27-13 defeat. "Any other year, it was 16 games. And we have 16 games ahead of us that we have to improve week by week and keep climbing and make sure we're the best team we can be. So, obviously the first week's an important game, every game is an important game. We got to make sure that we take the lessons we've learned from this game and move forward and make sure that we keep putting a better product out there."

Their first opportunity to do that will be tomorrow night when the Giants face the defending NFC East champion Washington Football Team, which also lost its opener at home to an AFC West team, 20-16 to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Thursday night games are physically taxing, and they leave little time for detailed preparation. But for teams that lost the previous week, they offer a rapid chance at redemption.

"I've been in this league long enough to know that good teams will look at this short turn around as an opportunity to get that bad taste out of our mouths," said defensive lineman Leonard Williams. "The faster we're able to play a game and get a win under our belt, the faster we can move on from the loss that we just had the past week. It's a short turnaround as far as guys' bodies recovery-wise and mentally being able to prepare for a team with a shorter week. But like I said, we're trying to be optimistic and opportunists about it and we're looking at it as an opportunity."

"We have a lot of work to get done in a short period of time for Washington," Judge said. "When we get on the train, we want to make sure our guys are prepared and when we get there Thursday night, obviously, we want to make sure we're ready to go out there physically and mentally to be able to run and hit and play fast football."

Giants Insider: Sterling Shepard on his strong start, matchup vs. WFT

Sterling Shepard had a strong performance in the season-opening loss to the Broncos.

The sixth-year receiver reeled in seven of nine targets for 113 yards and an impressive 37-yard touchdown. PFF handed him a 79.2 overall grade, which ranked 15th in the NFL among all wide receivers, after Daniel Jones had a 155.2 QB Rating when targeting him.

Shepard sat down with Giants.com's Paul Dottino to discuss his strong performance in Week 1 and previews the matchup against Washington in this edition of Giants Insider.

📸 Travel Photos: Giants head to Washington

Check out the gallery below to view the team travelinng to Washington for the Week 2 matchup against the Washington Football Team on Thursday Night Football.