In what appears to be an ever increasing Thursday Night Football trend, the New York Giants stomped all over the Washington Redskins in a 45-14 eviscerating escapade of a game. Eli Manning was cruising on all cylinders and looked every bit the elite level quarterback he professes himself to be with four touchdowns, three to second year TE Larry Donnell. The Grambling State product became the first Giants tight end to catch three touchdowns in 52 years. Manning would finish the game with 300 passing yards, completing 28 of his 39 pass attempts. Rueben Randle looked the part of a classic bookend receiver the Giants thought they were getting when they drafted him in 2012. He would catch eight catches for 89 yards. Victor Cruz would finish with six catches for 108 yards.
The recent resurgence of the two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback has hopes soaring for the now 2-2 New York Giants. On the opposite end of the winning spectrum, we find a young Kirk Cousins looking more like Kirk Wasn’t. As in, he wasn’t steady in the pocket, he wasn’t remotely accurate and he wasn’t winning any popularity contests over Robert Griffin III anytime soon. It’s peculiar how quickly prognosticators who were pro-Cousins and anti-Griffin have reconfigured their words to include the possibility of RGIII returning as starting quarterback when his ailing ankle becomes well enough. Cousins’ performance was a comedy of errors that culminated in the young QB throwing four interceptions and losing a fumble.
However, there were a few bright spots for the Redskins. Running back Alfred Morris carried the ball 12 times for 63 yards, but Washington was fighting from behind early and had to largely abandon the run after being down double-digits by halftime. The score would have been even more lopsided in favor of the New York Giants if it wasn’t for a confusing play that looked like a touchdown by Randle, but ended up being ruled an interception. But Cousins appeared to be in a giving mood as he would throw his second interception two plays later.
That turnover would lead to a 2-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Fells in the back of the end zone. The Giants running game was respectable as Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings scampered for 66 and 55 yards respectively. Despite the disrespectful scoreboard tally, the biggest star of the night was Larry Donnell. As mentioned earlier, the second-year former practice squad TE balled above all with three touchdowns, but his seven catches for 54 yards continues a season long trend in which Donnell has caught at least six catches. The New York Giants’ offense is conviently on the uptick over the last two games and will look to continue that positive trend when they take on the high-scoring Atlanta Falcons while the Washington Redskins will lick their wounds in hopes of getting all the kinks out before facing the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football.
