Washington Football Team: Studs and duds from thrilling Week 2 win over Giants

Anything to talk about?

We would’ve appreciated if the Washington made it less stressful, but a win is a win, baby, and the Football Team needed that in the worst way.

This game had a plethora of twists in the fourth quarter alone. It even looked for a few seconds that Washington lost after Dustin Hopkins missed a 48-yard game-winning field goal attempt as time expired.

However, the Giants jumped offsides, giving Hopkins a chance to redeem himself, and the veteran kicker did just that, drilling a 43-yarder to send the G-Men back to East Rutherford with their tails between their legs.

Suffice it to say this was a very up and down performance from Washington. Despite the win, there are still a number of things to be concerned about moving forward — the secondary being chief among them.

For now, though, let’s highlight some of the game’s best and worst performers with a new edition of studs and duds.

Washington Football Team: Studs and duds from Thursday night

Stud: Terry McLaurin

What more is there to say about Terry McLaurin?

The star receiver celebrated his 26th birthday on Wednesday and he responded with a dominant performance against the Giants on Thursday night, hauling in a career-high 11 receptions for 107 yards and the WFT’s opening TD.

How do we know McLaurin is a man of the people? He cashed his over/under receptions (5.5) in the first half alone. If you took our advice and backed the 2019 second-round pick, you have a few extra dollars in your pocket. Let’s go!

In all seriousness, McLaurin dominated his personal battle against star cornerback James Bradberry, emerging as a go-to target for Heinicke in high-leverage situations, especially in the fourth quarter.

Then again, that shouldn’t surprise anyone given that he continues to climb the latter as far as star NFL wide receivers are concerned.

This was simply another day at the office for McLaurin, who proved yet again that he’ll perform at a high level regardless of who’s under center.

Dud: Landon Collins

This was a perfect opportunity for Landon Collins to prove he belongs in the category of elite safeties. Unfortunately, he wasn’t up to the task. We’ll refrain from doing a play-by-play recap, but Collins was seen over-pursuing on at least a handful of snaps. He also got burned on a big Daniel Jones running play.

Speaking of which, Collins didn’t even come close in his effort to chase Jones down. We know Jones is quietly one of the fastest QBs in the league (in terms of downhill sprints), but he kept a five-yard gap between Collins the whole way. It was an impressive look for Jones.

As for Collins, well, he’s at better moments in an NFL jersey.

Dud: Jack Del Rio

Did Jack Del Rio not watch film leading up to this game? It certainly didn’t feel like, because to say that the Football Team was ill-prepared for Daniel Jones’ designed running plays would be a comprehensive understatement.

Not only was their nobody (literally not a soul) in the middle of the field when Jones scored a rushing touchdown early in the first quarter, but the Giants quarterback would’ve had another TD run — this time a LONG one — but New York got flagged for an admittedly suspect holding penalty and it got called back.

Overall, Jones was just incredibly lethal with his legs, taking off for 95 yards on nine carries and the aforementioned score.

Getting beyond that, however, Washington once again struggled getting off the field on third down, as the Giants finished a solid 4-for-12 for the game, including a back-breaking 19-yard conversion on 3rd and 7 in the third quarter. Two plays later, Jones connected with Darius Slayton for a 33-yard touchdown to restore the Giants’ lead.

We once again expected better from the Football Team’s defense, and that ultimately lies on Del Rio’s shoulders.

Stud: Jonathan Allen

Washington’s defensive line made a couple of flashy highlights, but they really disappointed against a Giants offensive line that was depleted coming into the game and lost starter Nick Gates to a gruesome leg injury in the first quarter.

Jonathan Allen, however, lived up to every penny of the four-year, $72 million contract he signed this offseason. He was the clear standout of the group, coming up with a couple of momentum shifting plays in key moments in both halves.

For the game, Allen accounted for six tackles (three for loss), two sacks and three QB hits. Talk about picking up your teammates’ slack!

We all knew the WFT needed to set the tone in the trenches early on and Allen made his presence felt within the first couple plays, even though the rest of his teammates didn’t match his energy as the Giants marched down the field for a TD.

Washington doesn’t win this game without Allen. Plain and simple.

Dud: William Jackson

That photo is a perfect summation of William Jackson’s performance, as he unfortunately did not piggyback off his strong debut for Washington in Week 1 against the Chargers. The grading scale for cornerbacks is admittedly unfair, as all it takes is one or two plays to fill out their report card.

However, Jackson deserves any criticism he receives for this performance, as he was cooked on a handful of plays on Thursday night.

The worst of the bunch came on Slayton’s 33-yard touchdown with 4:41 remaining in the third quarter. In addition, Jackson was called for pass interference on a would-be Kenny Golladay TD in the second half and was part of a blown coverage that would’ve resulted in another deep touchdown to Slayton.

Luckily for Jackson, Jones put a little too much mustard on the throw and it deflected off Slayton’s fingertips for an incompletion.

Regardless, Jackson could’ve been responsible for three (!) separate Giants touchdowns. His stats might look nice — he has seven tackles, four pass breakups and an interception in two games — but he, along with the entire Football Team secondary, was badly exposed by Jones on Thursday night.

This was a shockingly sloppy performance from Washington’s  $42 million corner, and we’ll be expecting a lot better moving forward.

Stud: Taylor Heinicke

Heinicke was an increasingly polarizing topic of conversation amongst fans leading into his first career regular season start. Something tells us he’ll stay that way, but he shouldn’t, because he answered the call in primetime.

For the game, Heinicke finished 34-of-46 (73.9%) for 336 yards and two touchdowns. He did have a bad-looking interception that could’ve iced the game late in the fourth quarter, but that was more of a miscommunication between him and McLaurin than it was a poor decision or inaccurate pass.

More important, the Giants failed to take advantage of the opportunity…and Heinicke would redeem himself just minutes later, executing the two-minute drill with poise to give Hopkins a chance to win in at the death.

Here, however, is Heinicke’s most throw of the night.

That brings us to our final stud.

Stud: Dustin Hopkins

Hopkins came oh so close to being listed as a dud for missing the game-winner, but he, like Heinicke, redeemed himself in a big way.

With this performance, Hopkins all but killed off the idea that Washington should sign someone else to put heat on his job. In the end, the 30-year-old went a perfect 3-for-3, including a gutsy 49-yarder deep into the third quarter after the Giants had just taken a six-point lead on the Slayton touchdown.

That should just about wrap it up, folks. What a night and what a win. Time to rest up, because Buffalo awaits in Week 3.

Washington Football Team honors late legend Bobby Mitchell before Thursday Night Football

The Washington Football Team honored late franchise legend Bobby Mitchel before Thursday night's division showdown against the Giants.