Anyone else almost pass out? The NY Giants have ESCAPED with a 14-7 win over the Washington Commanders and plenty of fans are feeling quite lucky this team is now 2-5 on the year. The Giants got off to a hot start, but then things went downhill in the second half.
Thankfully, however, Washington wasn't able to pull off a stunning comeback and Big Blue has ended their four-game losing streak. We have our takeaways for you in this piece, which includes a big-time negative, but also plenty of positives for Brian Daboll to look back on:
5. The Giants special teams are a mess
To start off, we've simply got to bring up the terrible special teams for the Giants, This has been a major issue for Daboll all season and more of the same was displayed in Week 7 against the Commanders. How is it possible for the unit to continue to look this bad? Giants fans have just about had it.
Early on, rookie Eric Gray muffed a punt, which was luckily recovered by the Giants. However, Gray has consistently showed us that he's a liability back there returning punts. He was battling a calf injury too, which opened the door for Sterling Shepard to take his spot. With Shep being a veteran, the Giants were in good hands... we thought:
.@Commanders recover the muffed punt!
— NFL (@NFL) October 22, 2023
📺: #WASvsNYG on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/iTs8HMaXlh pic.twitter.com/5XDqVImoKk
Unreal. Shepard let the ball go through his hands and Washington was all over the ball. In the blink of an eye, Sam Howell and Co. were in a great spot to put some points on the board and they did just that. The Brian Robinson TD run made this a one-score game. The Giants were dominating play, but the Shepard fumble and Washington score gave the Commanders life.