Be honest: How many times have you watched IT? Dozens? Hundreds? Have you memorized, however involuntarily Jim Nance‘s call? “It comes down to one last play. And, it’s going to be…getting longer by the second. All the way back to the 30-yard line. Now you can step into it. Here comes the Hail Mary with the game on the line…AND THE BALL IS CAUGHT! IT’S A MIRACLE! Noah Brown. OH MY GOODNESS! AND, THIS TOWN IS GOING CRAZY! Just a madhouse in Landover, Maryland.” Tony Romo then added, “He did it!” It’s a great call of a remarkable moment. The entire football world was watching. Choose whatever moniker you want to give this play: Candidates include, The Raise Hail Mary, Hail Maryland, and many others. The Chicago radio team called it, “The gut punch of gut punches.” Sure was fun, eh? Not to be a killjoy, but to slightly alter a baseball phrase; you don’t win this week’s games with last week’s highlights.
The Fallout
Dan Quinn was asked how he would get his team back to earth following such a dramatic game. His response came without pause, “There’s a way to prepare for a game every week. This is no different. You reset and go through the progression. Take one last look at the masterpiece on the Etch-a-Sketch, turn it over, shake it, and then start all over.” The reference may be outside the realm of experience for younger readers. But, there’s scarcely a gray-hair in the neighborhood that didn’t at least dabble on the iconic toy. Blank Slate, Reset, and Starting Over are all well and good. But, this is a team 8-weeks into a grueling endeavor. There are nicks and cuts in abundance.
Jayden Daniels‘ status last week was almost a vigil. This week, not so much. He’s not fully recovered. We don’t know if he took a rib block or not last week. Gut instincts aside there was never any word official or otherwise on that. For as well as he played he was not himself. His accuracy was down. Coming into the game his completion percentage was 75.5%. This game was 55.3%. He should be better for this game. But, on the injury report he was listed as “Limited” in practice.
He is not alone in being limited. The Offensive Line took a hit. Brandon Coleman was out with a concussion. Cornelius Lucas has an ankle injury. Coleman returned to practice. Lucas did not. Depth in the Offensive Line room is going to be a consideration going forward.
That was so much fun. And, what I love about the team is that we’re never out of the fight.
Head Coach Dan Quinn
For the Bears, this was a week that couldn’t get over fast enough. The venom hurled towards their Head Coach is toxic enough to raise welts on skin contact. Players are yakking about a lack of focus during practice. And, their Defensive Back Tyrique Stevenson should not be spotted walking around town. He was the one jawing with fans during the Hail Mary. Then, he ignored his assignment to box out Noah Brown leaving him all alone in the End Zone. And, then he jumped into the scrum tipping the ball up into the air directly to Brown. It’s really not hard to imagine Bill Parcells cutting him on the spot. That play may put Chicago into a death spiral for this season. Does it, in turn, propel Washington?
On to Big Blue
The New York Football Giants are not a good team. But, they are tough scratch-and-claw group. They gave Pittsburgh all they wanted and some they didn’t last week. The Giants are physical. Currently, the face of the franchise is Defensive Tackle Dexter Lawrence. He is a load that demands double-teams. Their group of OLBs are good. Kayvon Thibodeaux has had career days against Washington before. He was held at bay during the first game. But, he wasn’t 100%. Azeez Ojulari is another good good one. He is the subject of some trade rumors out there. Defensively they are not bad at all. Coming off the game against the Bears’ stout Defense this will be another test and building block. The following week TJ Watt and the Steelers come to town. The schedule is getting tougher.
Offensively the Giants may have found something in Tyrone Tracy. He rushed for 145 yards on 20 carries before a concussion knocked him out of last week’s game. Tyrone was back at practice this week which should indicate he will play. They also have one Malik Nabers. When Jayden Daniels was heaving all those touchdowns at LSU Nabers was catching most of them. He looks every bit the part of the top-6 Draft Pick that New York spent on him. That hasn’t gone over well completely with the New York fan base. They are not happy with their QB Daniel Jones. JJ McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr, and Bo Nix were three QBs there for the taking. Instead the Giants’ afterguard stayed with Jones. They also let Saquon Barkley head to hated rival Philadelphia. It’s the kind of off-season that makes the faithful shake their heads.
Daniel Jones is just good enough to make one wonder. He has a 61% completion rate for the year with 6 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. His legs may be better than his arm. He rushed about 6 times per game for about 6.6 yards-per-carry. Unfortunately, he has saved some of his better games for Washington.
Road Game
If you are old enough to remember there was a time when cigarettes were advertised on TV. An iconic ciggy ad was a cowboy riding a horse through a snow-covered field. It was called “Marlboro Country.” One would think this was filmed in Wyoming or Montana. Actually, it was filmed at the Hackensack Meadowlands. It was a large set of wetlands. The Giants had played in the Polo Grounds, then Yankee Stadium for 51 years. In 1976 they moved to a landfilled section of the Meadowlands. This stadium is a replacement built in 2010. The Meadowlands’ stadiums have been a house of horrors for Washington teams. Already this week one visiting team at 6-2 came in to play a New York team at 2-6. That didn’t go particularly well for the visitors. Hopefully the WFT at 6-2 will do better against the 2-6 Giants.
One of the worst aspects of the stadium has been the slit-film turf. After constant criticism from players the turf was replaced with Field Turf Core synthetic grass. The field may be better, but the stadium remains a tough venue for Washington. A win here, with Pittsburgh coming to town the following week would be a very good thing indeed. Philadelphia seems to have found a way out of their nearly year-long funk. Like every other object in the side-view mirror they are closer than they appear. The WFT travels to the city with the Brotherly Shove the week after that.
Given that the Burgundy and Gold have designs being Division Champions, winning this game would be quite helpful in that pursuit.
Washington Commanders at New York Giants:
FOX, 1 p.m.
Announcers: Chris Myers, Mark Sanchez, Kristina Pink
