Copr. CBS Sports 2026

There’s gonna be a big fight-feel in the air at MetLife tonight as the New York Giants defend their home turf against the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football. New York has taken full advantage of a light load in terms of opponent strength to start the year despite massive injuries while Washington has limped to a 2-5-1 record with similar circumstances. In all fairness, John Harbaugh has instilled a “next man up” attitude that hasn’t been seen in New York in over a decade during his first year as head coach of the G-Men.

Offensively, Giants fans should expect a mixed bag. While the jury is still out on J.J. McCarthy and his ability to consistently make the big plays he produced before the bye week, the run game might find themselves stifled against a Commanders squad which ranks 11th in opposing yards per rush (3.9) and 12th in opposing rushing yards per game (102.3). Running back Cam Skattebo will return tonight coming off of a hamstring injury that he suffered three weeks ago in Houston, while backup RB Devin Singletary had an abysmal performance in Philadelphia four days ago in his stead, carrying the ball 21 times for a mere 31 yards. The Giants have made it obvious that they have no plans to add another back for the remainder of the season as they were unable to make a deal at the trade deadline for either Jonathan Taylor or (apparently) Bijan Robinson, and hope to survive with what they have available as the team awaits the return of Tyrone Tracy Jr. to further aid the backfield.

Defensively, containing Jayden Daniels in the pocket needs to be priority number one. The third year star out of LSU ran roughshod over the Giants in week five, scrambling for 103 yards on a mere nine carries and added two touchdowns to boot. Daniels is beginning to gain the label of a ‘Giant killer’ as he boasts a 3-0-1 record against Big Blue all time. Harbaugh should prepare to run a contain-style defense against the elusive signal caller, and edge rushers Abdul Carter and Kayvon Tibodeaux should be on their A-game. If they can keep Daniels between the hash marks then that should leave room for the front seven to go to work once again as they were able to sack Daniels five times in week five.

The General Consensus

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This one should be an absolute nail-biter. Both squads have competed in a combined 11 one score contests including their tie earlier in the season, and this feels like a must win game for both parties for vastly different reasons. The Commanders are in full survival mode and looking to keep pace with Dallas as the only contenders left in the division to take the reins from New York, while the Giants look to complete their establishment of a firm foundation before their strength of schedule drastically increases, with five of their next six opponents boasting a winning record. Both teams have proven that they can produce offensively in the rain, and we expect no less in primetime tonight.

Prediction: Giants-30 Commanders-27

-Jack Barber

Works Cited

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/team/washington-commanders/stats https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4426348/jayden-daniels

https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401872988

https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/schedule/_/name/nyg/new-york-giants