Storylines to follow in Week 9 NFC East matchup

Trying to slow down Daniels

Speaking of Daniels, the rookie quarterback has taken his game to another level since the first meeting. After going the first two games of the season without a passing touchdown, Daniels has thrown seven touchdowns over the last six games, along with an additional two scores on the ground. But even more impressive has been the No. 2 overall pick’s efficiency.

In Week 3, Daniels completed a jaw-dropping 91.3 percent of his passes for 254 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a win over the Bengals. He followed that up by completing 86.7 percent of his passes for 233 yards, one touchdown and one interception in a Week 4 win over the Cardinals. The 23-year-old added a rushing touchdown in each of those dominant performances.

On the season, Daniels has completed 71.8 percent of his passes while averaging 217.0 passing yards per game. He has thrown seven touchdowns to just two interceptions, and has earned a passer rating of 104.3. Daniels is also averaging 5.7 yards per rush attempt and 53.0 rushing yards per game with four scores on the ground.

“He’s one of the better quarterbacks in the league already,” Daboll told the media Wednesday. “He’s got great vision. He can throw the ball in any area he needs to throw it. He can throw it under pressure. He can escape and make plays with his feet. He can escape and make plays with his arm. He’s got good command, which we knew. He was a smart guy when we spoke with him. He’s playing really well, at a high level. You can tell there’s a lot of confidence in him. He has a lot of yards per attempt. Eight and a half, which is really good. He makes good decisions. He does a lot of good things.”

The Giants have gotten their league-leading 35 sacks this season despite blitzing only 30.7 percent of the time, which ranks 14^th in the NFL. If the Giants do blitz on Sunday, the rest of the defense will have to keep their heads on a swivel. Daniels has completed 71.9 percent of his passes (4^th in the NFL) and has averaged 10.1 yards per attempt (3^rd) when blitzed this season. The completion percentage when blitzed would be the highest by a rookie quarterback since at least 2018. But perhaps more importantly, the rookie quarterback has scrambled a league-leading 14 times when blitzed. If he feels pressure, Daniels will not hesitate to tuck the ball and run, something the defense will have to be on the lookout for.

Scouting the rest of the Commanders

Daniels’ performance this season has helped open things up for the Commanders’ run game, starting with running back Brian Robinson Jr. The 25-year-old is off to the best start of his young NFL career with 461 rushing yards and an average of 4.6 yards per carry through seven games. His career-highs in those categories are 797 rushing yards and 4.1 yards per carry. Robinson has also already set a new career-best mark with six rushing touchdowns. 311 of his yards and five of his touchdowns this year have come on inside rushes, according to Next Gen Stats, which is an area the Giants’ run defense has struggled with to start the season.

“I’d say tackling in the open field is something that you talk about and work on,” Daboll said when asked how the run defense can improve. “You work on it in drills. You have to be able to finish it in the game. They hit a couple long ones, which usually leads to higher yards per attempt. Gap integrity… All the things that it takes to be a good run defense.”

The biggest beneficiary of Daniels’ success as a passer has been wide receiver Terry McLaurin. The veteran wideout leads the team with his 57 targets, 40 receptions, 579 receiving yards and four touchdowns, and is fresh off his best game of the season in which he brought in five passes for 125 yards in the win over the Bears. In the first game against the Giants, McLaurin was limited to just 22 yards on six receptions.

Daniels’ second favorite target has easily been Zach Ertz. The veteran tight end ranks second on the team in targets (45), receptions (32), and receiving yards (345) while scoring one touchdown. Similar to McLaurin, Ertz is also coming off his best game of the season against the Bears, a game in which he was targeted 11 times and caught seven of them for 77 yards, all of which set new season-highs.

Moving over to the other side of the ball, the Commanders’ defense has performed significantly better in recent weeks compared to the start of the season. From Weeks 4-8, the Commanders are second in the NFL in EPA (expected points added) per play allowed and fourth in points per game allowed. As mentioned earlier, the schedule factored into their recent success as the Commanders played the Cardinals, Browns, Ravens, Panthers, and Bears during that stretch, with only the Ravens having a highly-ranked offense.

Linebacker Dante Fowler has led the way in the pass rush with 4.5 sacks this season, while linebacker Frankie Luvu and defensive end Dorance Armstrong Jr. are right behind him with 4.0 sacks apiece. The unit suffered a tough blow a few weeks ago when veteran defensive lineman Jonathan Allen was lost for the season due to a torn pectoral muscle.

When it comes to the Commanders’ defense, it’s clear and obvious who serves as the anchor of the unit – linebacker Bobby Wagner. The nine-time Pro Bowler has racked up a team-high 69 total tackles, 20 more than anyone else on the defense, including six tackles for loss, which is also tied for the most on the team. Wagner has added two sacks on the year along with a forced fumble and five quarterback hits. Heading into last week’s game, Wagner had just two missed tackles on the season, resulting in a 96.9 percent tackle efficiency rate. This ranked as the highest in the NFL through the first seven weeks of the season.