Washington vs. Giants 2015, ‘Thursday Night Football’ preview: NFC East foes try to get leg up in division

Even a winless Giants team that has self-destructed in the first two weeks or a Washington team that is coming off two straight double-digit loss seasons can win this division.

by Katie Sharp

Sep 24, 2015, 12:00 PM UTC

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

We are just two weeks into the season, but all signs are pointing to the NFC East being one of the most wide-open, if not confusing, races in the league. Two of the teams jockeying for position in this bizarro division, Washington and the New York Giants, kick off Week 3 with a matchup at MetLife Stadium on Thursday Night Football.

Before the season started, most experts thought the NFC East would be a top-heavy division with the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles locked in a tight battle for first place. That's hardly the situation now, however, as there seems to be no overwhelming favorite and no team that looks impossible to catch.

Consider the following:

The Cowboys are 2-0, but they'll have to navigate the next two months without franchise quarterback Tony Romo (broken clavicle) and star wide receiver Dez Bryant (broken foot). The Eagles (0-2) are a hot mess right now, with their vaunted offense ranked 25th in yardage and tied for 28th in points. The winless Giants are choking away games in historic fashion and their defense has allowed more yards than every team except the Oakland Raiders. Washington is 1-1 and looks like it has the fewest warts of the four teams through two games, but lacks the track record (7-25 in previous two seasons) to put much trust or confidence in them running away with the division.

Anybody can win the NFC East now -- there is no clarity, just a ton of chaos, injuries and question marks. And 15 more weeks of football to sort it out.

The Giants self-destructed for the second week in a row Sunday, blowing yet another double-digit fourth-quarter lead in their 24-20 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. This came on the heels of a similar late-game choke job against the Cowboys in Week 1. The Giants are the first team in NFL history to lose their first two games of the season despite holding a lead of at least 10 points in the fourth quarter of each game. They are probably happy to see Washington on the schedule now, though. The Giants have won four straight in the rivalry and haven't dropped a home game against them since 2011.

Washington might be the biggest surprise of this young NFL season, in a good way. Its revamped defense has looked dominant in the first two games, and the team could have the best ground game in the division. Washington has also showed surprising resiliency, bouncing back from a close Week 1 loss to the Miami Dolphins with a convincing 24-10 win over the St. Louis Rams. This game will go a long ways towards showing whether last Sunday's performance was an aberration or the start of something good in Washington.

Digits

If the Giants are going to turn around their season, they need to learn how to finish games. They’ve outscored their first two opponents in the first three quarters, 36-23, but have been outscored in the fourth quarter, 28-10. Their point differential in the first three quarters is the ninth-best in the NFL, while their fourth-quarter point differential ranks second-worst.

Their fourth-quarter problems are not simply a product of poor clock management. Their defense has imploded in the final period. The Giants have allowed the most yards and second-most points of any team in the fourth quarter, and have surrendered a touchdown on each of their opponents’ four red-zone trips. Their offensive shortcomings have really hurt them, too. They’ve punted on three of their seven fourth-quarter drives and have scored just one touchdown. Right now the Giants’ offense is not making the plays it needs to make at the critical times.

Although it's still early in the season, Washington appears to have forged its identity as a team that's going to win games with a powerful rushing attack and a strong defense. Through two weeks, Washington leads the NFL in rushing yards and has allowed the fewest total yards. They are the only team that has two players with at least 150 rush yards: Matt Jones was the star in Week 2 (19 rushes, 123 yards), while Alfred Morris carried the load in Week 1 (25 rushes, 121 yards).

Thanks to a run-heavy scheme with two backs who can produce, Kirk Cousins might only have to be a game manager at quarterback in order for Washington to have a successful season. The results so far have been mixed: he turned the ball over twice and produced a meager passer rating of 68.8 in the loss to the Dolphins, but was nearly flawless in the win over the Rams, completing 23 of 27 passes (85 percent) for 203 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Who to Watch

Odell Beckham Jr. - The second-year wideout can’t win games by himself, but at least he’s trying. Beckham had another huge game last week with seven catches for 146 yards, including a spectacular 67-yard catch-and-run touchdown. His 103 receptions and 1,495 receiving yards are the most ever for a player through his first 14 career games. In his only matchup against Washington last year, Beckham torched their secondary for 143 yards on 12 catches and a career-high three touchdowns.

Alfred Morris - The veteran was outshined by the rookie Jones in Week 2, and it will be interesting to see how the carries are distributed in this game. Both had a similar number of touches against the Rams, but Morris averaged just 3.3 yards per rush while Jones produced a whopping 6.5 yards per rush. Morris really struggled to find holes at the line of scrimmage on Sunday, with 14 of his 18 attempts gaining no more than 2 yards. He had one 35-yard run in the first quarter but averaged just 1.4 yards on his other 17 carries.

How to Watch

When: 8:25 p.m. ET

Where: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.

TV: CBS, NFL Network

Announcers: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms, Tracy Wolfson

Online: NFL Game Pass

Preliminary Judgment

The experts are giving a slight edge to the Giants at home, but they aren’t a consensus pick to get their first win of the season. Four of the eight guys at CBS Sports are siding with Washington, while all but one of the experts on the SB Nation panel are taking the Giants.