Washington Football Team: Studs and duds from walk-off win vs. Giants

The Washington Football Team got their first win of 2021 with a walk-off victory in an NFC East showdown with the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football.

The Washington Football Team got a win in primetime with a 30-29 victory over their NFC East rivals on Thursday Night Football. The game went down to the wire as the New York Giants were called offside as Washington missed a game-winning field goal, allowing them to re-take and walk off with the win.

The Giants started the game well, taking the lead with Daniel Jones running in on a second-and-goal. The game then followed a rather scrappy timeline, with Taylor Heinicke and Terry McLaurin, pulling the Washington offense together to take a 14-10 lead at halftime.

Both teams sputtered on offense with Washington’s defensive line controlling Jones for the most part. In the end, it was the Giants’ own mistakes that would cost them with the penalty on the game-winning kick among several other errors.

Let’s look back on the good and not-so-good performers from the Washington Football Team in their first victory of the 2021 season.

Studs for the Washington Football Team in Week 2 win over Giants

Terry McLaurin, WR – The No 1. receiver for this team showed just why he is regarded so highly at FedEx Field. The wideout was Heinicke’s top target all night as McLaurin made 11 receptions for 107 yards and one touchdown.

McLaurin continued getting open all night and had Giants cornerback James Bradberry on strings from start to finish. Heinicke put in a gutsy performance but, without his top receiver, he would’ve found it hard going. McLaurin had some top route running throughout and kept pulling Washington up; he was a massive catalyst in this game for getting his team the win.

Taylor Heinicke, QB – The former backup quarterback came out and, though he struggled at times, did exactly what was needed and made the passing game flow, getting the ball out quickly along with making good use of his skill players.

He had to get this offense going with the defense constantly doing the work and being the stronger part of the team. It was about getting the top-end talent up and running and Heinicke did that.

Heinicke, now one of Troy Aikman’s favorite quarterbacks, acted like this was his team in this game. He came out and completed 34-of-46 passes for 336 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

Jonathan Allen, DT – Arguably the top performer on Thursday night, Jonathan Allen stood out on a strong defensive line group that is stacked with talent. But Allen really showed up and had Jones sweating. He had the biggest impact of their scary front three last night, getting two sacks early on, stopping the Giants racking up points.

Duds for the Washington Football Team in Week 2 win over Giants

Chase Young, DE – Chase Young seemed to be the fall guy for the defensive line during the game. He appeared to be quite occupied while Allen took over and racked up the stats. Young struggled to really break through the Giants line and found himself often double-teamed by what ended up being a banged-up Giants offensive line.

On the bright side, it appears that at least one of Washington’s studs on the defensive line has a big game each time out, so Young should have the chance to have that true breakthrough game in the future.

Coverage Defense – In Week 1, Washington gave up 424 yards to Justin Herbert and the Chargers. On Thursday night, they gave up a big number once again as the Giants racked up 391 total yards, with 228 through the air.

The coverage was good in the red zone with Jones having to run in one of his two scores, but when given time, the Giants didn’t find it that hard to get down the field in the passing game. An improvement, yes, but a lot of work to be done, especially in a division with Dak Prescott and all his weapons.