Commanders vs. Giants: 3 things to watch, including Washington’s top 2 targets potentially missing

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ASHBURN, Va. — Washington waited with bated breath for star quarterback Jayden Daniels to return.

If he came back, the thinking went, the Commanders might be able to stabilize their season.

Think again.

Daniels is back this week against the New York Giants, only to potentially play without his top two playmakers.

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs is out this week with a hamstring injury and Terry McLaurin is still nursing a hamstring strain he suffered last week. McLaurin popped up on the injury report last Friday and ended up missing the team’s game in London against the Colts. Diggs came up injured Wednesday and hasn’t practiced since.

McLaurin returned to practice on Friday, but it was a light day at the end of the week. Head coach Dan Quinn said he is trending in the right direction but is still unsure if he will play.

Can Washington scheme around that?

It will certainly take some creativity. If McLaurin joins Diggs on the sideline for the Giants game, the best remaining option at wide receiver is rookie Antonio Williams.

Head coach Dan Quinn has lamented how McLaurin and Daniels played less than 15% of the offensive snaps together last season. Now, if McLaurin doesn’t play again this week, they’ll be at 30%.

Here are other things to watch as New York comes to town.

Issues with tight ends

Washington’s biggest problem on offense and defense might revolve around the tight end position.

On offense, the Commanders have struggled to get one of their top offseason acquisitions going. They signed tight end Chig Okonkwo to a three-year, $27 million deal in hopes he would unlock their passing game. Instead, he’s been often injured and produced just four receptions for 21 yards in two games.

Former second-round pick Ben Sinnott has been similarly nonexistent with one catch for six yards this season. It’s already Year 3 for him, and time is running out on his rookie contract.

Offensive coordinator David Blough wanted the tight ends to be a key part of his offense. This week might be now-or-never to get them involved.

“As we build on this thing as we go throughout the entire season, just [want to] continue to see the consistent improvement in that room,” Blough said. “The opportunities will certainly come and we’re working on that.”

On defense, Washington has the opposite problem. Tight ends have killed the Commanders in the red zone. Philadelphia’s Dallas Goedert and Dallas’ Jake Ferguson both accounted for multiple touchdowns in games the Commanders lost.

The Giants also have a dynamic tight end in Isaiah Likely. Can Washington contain him?

“I have to continue to point it out to the players and make the corrections,” defensive coordinator Daronte Jones said. “Show the awareness of where certain players are, certain looks, and gotta be dialed in. You gotta understand the situation of the game and how they’re gonna attack and what we’ve put on tape [that tight ends can have success]. Once you put something on tape, you gotta take it off. And so that’s been the focus.”

A dynamic backup

You might think that Washington will have it easy this week facing a backup quarterback.

But Jameis Winston is hardly just any backup quarterback.

He turns the ball over at a high clip, but also makes up for it with touchdowns at a high rate.

In New York’s win against the Arizona Cardinals last week, Winston had two interceptions. He also had three touchdowns.

Washington created five turnovers in the last two games. But can they limit the big plays?

“Jameis is a guy who is high risk, high reward,” Jones said. “Why [the Giants] are where they are right now [at 3-1] is because of him and providing those opportunities. We can be mindful of ‘Yeah, he’s gonna turn the ball over.’ He can also put four or five touchdowns on you in a heartbeat.”

Note: Sixth-round pick Kaytron Allen was waived Thursday. He played in all four of the team’s games, but after rushing nine times for 40 yards in the first two weeks, Allen didn’t get a carry against the Seahawks and rushed three times for 1 yard against the Colts.

Washington could get him back on the practice squad if no other team wants to put him on their 53-man roster this late in the week. That is a likely outcome.

But it does show that the Commanders don’t feel Allen can be an immediate contributor. They went out and signed 31-year-old Austin Ekeler, who injured his Achilles tendon with the Commanders last season. And they could soon get Jeremy McNichols off injured reserve. Washington trusted them more than their young running back out of Penn State.