Giants Force Five Turnovers En Route to Win Over Washington

Blake Martinez celebrates his interception

The Good

Unlike most weeks, this week, the Giants had a lot of good and quite a bit to be proud of. As the title says, the defense forced five turnovers off of Alex Smith–two fumbles and had three interceptions– and they were undoubtedly the star of the win.

The Giants’ defense as a whole played great, but as always, certain players deserve extra recognition. The best player on this defense is Blake Martinez and it is not even close. This week Martinez did it all, finishing with 10 tackles–three solo and seven assisted–two passes defended, and an interception. “The human multi-tool” did it yet again.

The other two Giants defenders who deserve a ton of credit for this win are Jabrill Peppers and Logan Ryan. In the first quarter, Ryan forced a fumble that was then recovered by Peppers. Then later in the fourth quarter, both Ryan and Peppers would intercept Alex Smith on back-to-back drives. Ryan would also have the game-sealing interception.

As much credit as the defense deserves, Daniel Jones does deserve a bit of credit this week as well. Jones did not have any sort of eye-popping numbers–his final stats for the game were 212 yards passing, one touchdown–but most importantly… he had NO turnovers.

The fact that Jones did not turn the ball over is the main reason that he makes his way into “The Good” section. This has been something that Giants fans have been beyond upset about for a while now. However, this week, Jones made smarter plays and did not give the ball away. This is exactly what he needs to continue to do.

The Bad

Even though the Giants won, it was not a perfect game. They felt like a Jekyll and Hyde act. The first half was incredible, but the second half was not as great.

The first half saw the Giants score 20 points and only allow three to Washington. This was a great half of football for New York. The first half actually made it feel like it was going to be a blowout.

The second half would not be as great. The Giants offense would be quite flat as they only scored three points and punted three other times. The defense would also not be so incredible, either, giving up 17 points–which made this a closer game than it should have been.

Verdict

The Giants ultimately won, which is the good news. The bad news is that they were not great in the second half. The Giants need to be a better second-half team, especially offensively.

This is a decent team despite a poor 2-7 record. The first half was proof of what the Giants are capable of. The key is going to be playing as they did in that first half, but for entire games. If they are able to do so, the Giants could realistically end up with a 5-11 record and possibly even win the division.

Thanks for reading my Giants game recap! Follow me on Twitter @Jake_Malik for more New York Giants news and notes and follow @OT_Heroics for all things sports! 

Come discuss this and much more at the Overtime Heroics forums!

Also, be sure to check me out on my podcast Journey With The Js!

Go Check Out Overtime Heroics Merchandise!