Commanders key numbers: Doomed once again by a slow start in Week 7

The Bad: Commanders' slow starts and big plays

6-12: Since taking over, Ron Rivera is 6-12 in October games. Outside of 2022, the Washington Commanders have not had a winning record in the month of October.

The team went 1-3 in 2020, 1-4 in 2021, and are 1-3 thus far in 2023. Two of those losses came to teams that were a combined 1-9 coming into the games against the Commanders. That is unacceptable.

10: The Commanders' defense again struggled with giving up big plays, finishing with 10 allowed, including passes of 15, 16, 22, 22, 27, 32, 33, and 42 yards and rushes of 12 and 20 yards.

The Giants came in with the third-fewest 20+ yards plays with 14 on the season. They finished the game with seven against the Commanders.

166: The Commanders' last two drives went for a combined 25 plays and 166 yards of offense. Yet still resulted in zero points, with a blocked field goal and a failed fourth-down conversion on a pass that hit Jahan Dotson in the hands.

1st: The Commanders love giving out firsts to their opponents. The Giants got their first home touchdown of the season, the first-half touchdown of the season, and the first touchdown in 220 minutes of game time on Darren Waller's 15-yard catch on third-and-goal.

New York also got their first blocked field goal in 99 games, on a play where the Commanders should have gone for it on fourth down instead.

46: The Commanders' offense had 46 yards of total offense at half-time. Saquon Barkley and Darren Waller both had more total individual yards in the first half.

The team had more sacks given up (5) than first downs in the first half (2). Despite the constant pressure, the play-calling once again skewed 70-30 pass-to-run in the first half, resulting in zero points against a defense that was allowing 15.66 first-half points per game.

75: The Commanders finished with 10 penalties for 75 yards, just one less yard than the team's total rushing yardage for the game. The lack of discipline played a major factor in the loss, with Jamin Davis' illegal contact penalty wiping out a 10-yard combined sack by Chase Young and Montez Sweat on third-and-11.

Not only did this prevent a punt from deep in the Giants' territory, but it allowed New York to take another 4-plus minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter.

6: Sam Howell was sacked six times, by a team that was coming in with five across six games. The Giants had 12 quarterback hits and were getting pressure all game.

Howell tied an unenviable record, being sacked 4-plus times in seven straight games. He is still on pace to become the most-sacked quarterback in a season in NFL history.

8.8: The Commanders' average to go on third downs was 8.8 yards. They didn't get their first third-down conversion until the last play of the third quarter, which was their first in 19 tries, including the Atlanta Falcons game.

This was supposed to be the easy part of the Commanders' schedule, and they couldn't capitalize. With upcoming games against the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys (2X), Miami Dolphins, and San Francisco 49ers, things could get ugly quickly.