LANDOVER, Md. — The Giants run defense was supposed to be fixed now that Shane Bowen is on the scene as the defensive coordinator.
It looked fairly broken as the Giants dropped to 0-2 after a 21-18 loss to the Commanders at Northwest Stadium.
“Not ideal,’’ linebacker Bobby Okereke said.
He was referring to the 215 yards yielded on the ground.
Brian Robinson bullied and muscled and fought for everything en route to gaining 133 yards on only 17 rushing attempts — an average of 7.8 yards per rush.
Jayden Daniels was actually held in check, given his immense speed and escape ability, with 10 runs for 44 yards.
Austin Ekeler ran it eight times for 38 yards.
The threat of Daniels keeping the ball on option runs opened up lanes for Robinson, who broke off a 40-yarder in the third quarter to set up — what else? — one of Austin Seibert’s seven field goals.
“Hats off to them, they did a great job executing,’’ defensive end Brian Burns said. “That offensive style, I got to watch the film to see exactly what happened but just the read option and the RPO, they’re able to kind of manipulate the defense in a way where everybody has to do their one job. If somebody’s out of their gap, they can hit it.’’
Okereke had eight tackles and one sack of Daniels but was not happy with his performance.
“Too many explosive plays on the defense, especially on third down, too many missed tackles and it starts with me,’’ Okereke said.
Rookie WR Malik Nabers on a catch-and-run for 28 yards in the first quarter was leveled with a blind-side hit by LB Frankie Luvu.
The NFL spotter up in the booth called down to the field to have Nabers checked out for a possible concussion, as Luvu’s helmet made contact with Nabers’ helmet.
“I didn’t know what was going on,’’ Nabers said, “They said you got to get off the field. I was like ‘Why?’ That’s just the protocol they have. They’re trying to keep us safe. I got to follow their rules.’’
This is the lone division opponent the Giants had been able to handle for quite a while.
They came in with a three-game winning streak on the Commanders and were 8-2-1 against them since December 2018.
The Commanders signed Seibert this past week and released Cade York after York missed two field goals in a 37-20 season-opening loss in Tampa.
Seibert, in his Washington debut, went 7-for-7 on field goals — none longer than 45 yards — including the game-winning, 30-yarder as time expired.
“No, no, I haven’t,’’ Seibert said, when asked if he ever had as many field goals in a game. “I mean, maybe back in little league days.’’
The Giants became the first team in NFL history to score three touchdowns, allow no touchdowns and lose in regulation.
