The Commanders dominated the Giants Week 1 and the PFF grades showed unbelievable numbers from some surprising players
The numbers say these players dominated for the Commanders.
The score may have been close, but after further review, the Washington Commanders dominated the New York Giants in Week 1. I love to go back and watch the film after a game because the score doesn’t tell the full story, and the numbers and data never lie.
The Commanders beat the Giants on both sides of the ball, and there were a handful of standouts who came out with high PFF grades to back up their impact on Sunday
Offensive grades
Even after a “sloppy” performance, as Jayden Daniels said himself, he still finished as the sixth-highest graded overall quarterback for Week 1. He finished with an 83.9 overall grade and had the fourth-best running grade by a quarterback after rushing for 68 yards. Daniels and the offense have a huge test against Micah Parsons and a stout Packers defense on Thursday.
However, the star of the offense was Bill Croskey-Merritt, who finished with the highest rush grade among all running backs in the NFL for Week 1. Not just rookies, but every single running back, with an 83.9 run grade. He continues to live up to the hype.
The trenches deserve some love, too, and new left tackle Laremy Tunsil finished with the sixth-best pass-blocking grade among all tackles in Week 1. Daniels has a real bodyguard protecting his blindside now. One other name surprised me, too. Nick Allegretti finished with the fourth-best pass blocking grade among all guards this week.
He didn’t allow a single sack or pressure against the Giants’ pass rush on 41 passing snaps. What a showing from an underrated lineman who gets overlooked.
Defensive grades
The defense made a statement and popped all game long. There were a lot of players that took the game over that we didn’t expect, and some others who wound the clock back to their old selves. Starting in the secondary, one player with unknown expectations was new safety Will Harris, and he flashed in more ways than one.
Harris finished as the sixth overall safety in the entire league this week with an 84.3 defensive grade. He made plays in coverage and popped on a lot of tackles. Bobby Wagner stuck his nose in the run game on defense and finished with the third-best run defense grade with a 90.3 grade.
The biggest impressions on defense, however, came from the trenches, which dominated on Sunday. Javon Kinlaw and Daron Payne wound back the clock and brought their best selves out. Kinlaw was the third-highest overall interior defender and run stopper in the NFL Week 1. Payne brought the pressure all game and brought in the seventh-best pass-rushing grade in the league.
The one jaw-dropping surprise on defense was defensive tackle Eddie Goldman, who finished with the fifth-highest overall grade by an interior defensive lineman this week. This is a guy who retired and came back to help stop the run, and that’s what he did in his first game.
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