The New York Giants easily dispatched Washington on Thursday Night Football, winning, 32-21. It was their first victory of the season, and it came about through strong play from Eli Manning and a defense that forced multiple turnovers of Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Washington vs. Giants 2015 final score: Kirk Cousins throws 2 picks, New York wins, 32-21
The New York Giants beat Washington on Thursday, winning 32-21 on the back of a couple Kirk Cousins interceptions.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Manning completed 23 of 32 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, while Odell Beckham Jr. caught seven passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. Cousins finished with over 300 yards passing, but also threw two interceptions.
It was a poor start to the game for Washington. On the opening drive, the team was called for offensive pass interference and had a three-and-out. The first punt was nullified due to penalties, and the second was blocked, resulting in a safety. After forcing a Giants punt on the next possession, Cousins was intercepted by Prince Amukamara, and the Giants converted the short field into seven points as Andre Williams ran in the 1-yard touchdown.
From there, the teams exchanged field goals on four consecutive drives, but the Giants already had the other points and kicked field goals of their own to keep the lead. Things basically got out of reach for Washington when Cousins tossed another interception in the middle of what was looking like a momentum-shifting drive. Washington had three first downs, but a pass intended for Derek Carrier was intercepted by Uani' Unga.
The Giants turned that turnover into a 30-yard touchdown to Beckham and the game was essentially over at that point, despite there being more than 10 minutes left in the final frame. Washington started a drive that was promising, but they fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line while going for a touchdown, and the ball rolled into the end zone and out of bounds, thus giving them a touchback.
There was a flurry of scoring in the final minutes, but New York was never in danger of losing the game.
Coming into this game, New York had definitely looked good in spots, dropping very close games to the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons through two weeks of play. Most figured they weren't actually bad enough to be a winless team, and they showed that on Thursday. Washington is still a fairly big question mark, with this loss, a loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 and a dominating win over the St. Louis Rams in Week 2.
Washington will have another NFC East opponent in the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4. The Giants will take on the Buffalo Bills for their Week 4 game.
3 things we learned from Thursday’s game
Eli Manning sure can throw some pretty passes
Many raised their eyebrows when it was rumored Manning wanted to be the highest paid player in the NFL, but he really is an elite quarterback at the end of the day. Manning signed a four-year, $84 million extension earlier in the month and on Thursday, he had some pretty great passes, including this beauty:
That’s Beckham catching that pass, which is just as impressive as most of his crazy circus catches. He catches the ball in a very tight spot between three defenders. It was, of course, a perfectly thrown pass that Manning had to know he’s complete when the linebacker was turned around nearer the top of the play.
Cousins is having a rough time
The era of Robert Griffin III is at an end, and the era of Cousins thus far is ... shaky at best. Cousins didn't look great in Thursday's game, and had a pair of ugly interceptions. He forced a lot of passes when there was clearly nothing there, and also had two interceptions already coming into this game. Here's one of his from Thursday:
Coming into this game, Cousins had completed 75.9 percent of his passes, though that was on the back of a stellar performance against the St. Louis Rams in Week 2. That remains Washington’s only win after dropping Thursday’s game and it’s clear Cousins wasn’t starting before for a reason.
Tackling this guy is hard
Andre Williams had a solid game for the Giants. He’s a short-yardage back, and he proved it by scoring a touchdown on Thursday, but his most impressive play might have been him running over a hapless Washington defender who had no shot whatsoever at bringing him down:
That was safety Trenton Williams, a sixth-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2012. He's been with Washington for three seasons and has been a solid tackler for the team in two games this season but that was, to put it nicely, not his best play.
See More:
