The Washington Commanders got a kick out of beating the New York Giants 21-18 much to the delight of the home crowd of 61,841 at newly named Northwest Stadium.
Well, they actually got seven kicks of successful field goals a franchise record by new kicker Austin Seibert who passed the audition with flying colors of burgundy and gold. Quite a feat for a man who a week or two ago was practice kicking into trees in his back yard. He proved he was very kickable.
The Commander coaches got a kick out of their new kickers kicking accuracy.
It was the first win for highly touted rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. The 6′ 4″ former Heisman Trophy winner went 23 for 29 for 226 yards. As a dual threat he ran for 44 yards on 10 carries. He also protected the rock and finished with no turnovers.
Veteran 6′ 5″ tight end Zach Ertz from Stanford was one of his favorite targets catching four passes for 62 yards including a 21-yarder.
Seven other Commanders caught passes including #17 Terry McLaurin out of Ohio State who had six receptions for 22 yards. Veteran wide receiver and Commander’s newcomer Noah Brown had his first three catches of the year for 56 yards.
Washington was led in rushing by 6’1″ 228-pound Brian Robinson Jr. out of Alabama who had a career-best game of 133 yards on 17 carries. He also had runs of 32 and 40 yards the longest of his pro career.
With 2:04 to go in the game and the score tied 18-18 Daniels engineered an eight play 65-yard drive ending at the Giants 12-yard line.
The poised rookie started the game-winning drive at the 23-yard line. He calmly hit Brown for a 34-yard dart for a first down at the 43-yard line. An eight-yard pass and a Robinson 11-yard run got them to the Giants 24-yard line. A Daniels run of 14 yards got them to the New York 10-yard line. A knee down with 10 seconds to go finished off the rookies first game winning drive.
Seibert then booted his final field goal, a game-winning 30-yarder as time expired giving Washington a hard fought first division victory giving them a record of (1-1).
Washington was fortunate as the Giants kicker Graham Gano was injured and did not play in the game. After their punter missed the first extra point they went for two on their other two touchdowns as well as going for it on fourth down when they might have attempted a field goal.
They failed on their two-point tries allowing Washington to match their score while scoring no touchdowns of their own. They could only kick themselves for their untimely injury.
Washington kicked off their kicking with a 27-yard field goal giving them a 3-0 lead with 5:24 to go in the first quarter.
The Giants countered with a seven play 53-yard drive ending with a seven-yard touchdown reception making the score 6-3 just before the end of the first quarter.
Washington added two field goals in the second quarter making the score 9-6 but the Giants got another touchdown right before the half giving them a 12-9 lead at the break.
The only third quarter scoring was two more Washington field goals making the score 15-12.
The Giants came back with another touchdown making the score 18-15 with 11:32 to go in the game.
Daniels drove the Commanders 45 yards on nine plays, and you guessed it, setting Seibert up for 33-yard field goal with 7:12 to go tying the score at 18-18.
The Washington defense got the ball back just in time for Daniels to lead them on the game winning drive and sending the home crowd home happy.
Washington will need to work on scoring touchdowns as 0-6 in the Redzone does not normally win games in the NFL. Their third Down Efficiency was a respectable 7/14.
The Commanders outgained the Giants 425 yards to 304 and won the Time of Possession 37:32 to 22:28.
They had 226 passing yards to 178 for New York. They also won the rushing battle 215 yards to 129 yards for the Giants.
New York was led in passing by Daniel Jones who went 16-28 for 178 yards and two touchdowns. Devin Singletary led their rushing attack with 95 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown and Daniels old LSU teammate Malik Nabers caught 10 passes for 127 yards and one score in a losing effort for the (0-2) Giants.
