The New York Giants returned to the realm of .500 teams on Sunday, defeating the Washington Redskins, 24-3, in the first ever regular season game for Daniel Jones at MetLife Stadium.
There’s a lot to unpack from this game, so let’s begin by taking a look at some of the winners and losers, as well as those who drew some mixed reviews.
Winners
Jabrill Peppers: With Landon Collins in the building, the pressure was on for Peppers to prove the Giants made the right choice. And while Collins had a sloppy and otherwise quiet game, Peppers dominated. Against the run, in coverage, in the open field and on the sideline, Peppers did literally everything right on Sunday.
Wayne Gallman: Filling in for the injured Saquon Barkley, Gallman was everything the Giants could have hoped and then maybe a bit more. While he wasn’t nearly as explosive as Barkley, he was consistent and ran the ball hard, several times carrying a pile to a first down. He did put the ball on the ground late in the fourth quarter, but that was really his only negative mark.
Sterling Shepard: Shepard didn’t light up the box score, but he was as consistent as they come on Sunday, showing up with wildly impressive route running and downfield blocking. He finished the game with a team-leading seven receptions for 76 yards in nine targets.
Ryan Connelly: Before leaving the game with a knee injury, the rookie fifth-round pick was a highlight. Not only did he have an interception and a sack, but he made several impressive tackles and made it look like the game wasn’t too big for him. Hopefully his injury is short-term, but it didn’t look good.
Janoris Jenkins: After three truly terrible weeks, Jenkins stepped up in Week 4 and pieced together one of his best all-around games as a Giant. In fact, it was darn near flawless. Jenkins locked things down on the outside, hauled in two interceptions, forced a third and was just a dynamic presence all game long.
Others: Deandre Baker, Markus Golden, Oshane Ximines
Losers
Mike Remmers: The Giants’ tackles struggled on Sunday based on the eye test. And while Remmers was a little more solid against pressure, he did have two killer penalties. We’ll see what the film says, but it wasn’t Remmers’ best performance.
Nate Solder: Last season, Solder started slow and it was blamed on injuries. What will the excuse be this year? Solder seems to surrender relatively consistent pressure and appeared over-matched at times against the Redskins. We’ll see what the film shows, but upon first watch, it didn’t look pretty.
TJ Jones: Jones had such a bad day that it could be one of his last as a member of the Giants. He did not receive a single offensive snap and after two muffed punts was pulled from the game temporarily. With Golden Tate returning on Monday. Jones could be the odd man out in New Jersey.
Others: Grant Haley
Mixed reviews
Daniel Jones: In his MetLife Stadium debut, Jones started hot but rapidly slowed down. He exhibited his first real growing pains, tossing two picks and having a third dropped. However, he hung in and made several big plays with his legs, reeling it when he had to and avoiding any catastrophic mistakes late in the game with the lead.
Evan Engram: After three extremely impressive games to open the season, Engram had a few hiccups against the Redskins. At one point in the first half, Engram failed to power his route through a defender which led to one of DJ’s two interceptions. He ended the day with four receptions for 54 yards on seven targets.
Others: Jon Halapio, Kevin Zeitler, Jon Hilliman, Dexter Lawrence
