New York Giants: 3 players to watch against Washington in week 9

While the New York Giants lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week eight, they displayed a level of quality and grit that we hadn’t seen through the first seven weeks of the season.

However, there were some tumultuous performances and others that were stellar, but overall, competing against a team as good as Tampa should directly translate over to a far lesser opponent in the Washington Football Team. Theoretically, the Giants should walk over Washington this week, but it will take solid performances from their best players, which wasn’t the case last week, especially for quarterback Daniel Jones.

Three New York Giants players to watch against Washington in week 9:

1.) Shane LeMieux

The rise of Shane LeMieux has been fun to watch, despite his sample size being just one game. PFF graded him extremely poorly, giving him a 34.1 overall grade and 12.1 in pass blocking. After looking at his tape, his performance wasn’t nearly as bad as indicated, but he will be trying to build off a progressive rookie debut.

LeMieux brings a mean streak to his game, and he loves to get into the mix and hit people in the trenches. He’s a force in the running game but needs to work a bit on his pass protection technique and mirroring. He was hit with five pressures and four hurries but didn’t allow a sack against Tampa.

Washington represents a far worse defense, but their defensive line is one of the best in the NFL, so they represent another significant challenge for Lemieux.

2.) Daniel Jones

Last week, Daniel Jones was completely liable for the Giants’ loss to the Buccaneers. He missed several deep throws downfield and skipped over reads far too early. His performance was not indicative of a franchise quarterback, and fans were appalled by his lack of success. He threw for 256 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions, with a 60.98 completion percentage.

Jones has yet to experience a game without a turnover this season, having fumbled in all but three games this year. With stellar talent at a quarterback position in the 2021 NFL draft, Jones is not only competing in the NFL, but he’s also competing to retain his job as the future for Big Blue, and he has the next eight weeks to prove that he is capable of doing so.

We know he has the talent and skill set to be a fantastic quarterback, but missing blatant throws and reads is simply unacceptable, and the Giants cannot tolerate that, especially when factoring in his turnover problems.

3.) Jabrill Peppers

Last week, safety Jabrill Peppers had his best game as a New York Giant, tallying nine solo tackles and two passes defended. He was stellar in every facet, blanketing assignments in coverage and stopping the run at an elite level. It was clear that his confidence and motivation against Tampa fueled a fantastic performance.

The problem with Peppers, he hasn’t been able to replicate great performances on a weekly basis, disappearing and then reappearing at any given moment. This is a good chance for him to establish some consistency and dominate against Washington — an offense that will allow far more opportunities to take advantage of.