Commanders vs. Giants Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 2

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 2 matchup between the Commanders and Giants.

Find a breakdown of every Week 2 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Jayden Daniels: It was not overly sexy from a passing stance, but Daniels delivered fantasy points via his legs in his NFL debut.

Daniels ended Week 1 as the QB3 (28.2 points) on the strength of rushing 16 times for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Let’s start with the passing.

Daniels had 7.4 passing points, right between Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson in Week 1.

We came into last week expecting Tampa Bay to be aggressive with Daniels and they did just that.

The Bucs blitzed on 38.5% of the dropbacks, which was fifth in Week 1.

When blitzed, Daniels was frenetic.

He completed 4-of-8 passes for 37 yards (4.6 Y/A), but he took off 5 times for 53 yards.

Daniels averaged 5.2 air yards per attempt, which was 29th in the league.

He threw just 12.5% of his passes 10 yards or further downfield, which was the lowest rate in Week 1. The league average was 29.9%.

Daniels was 13-of-16 for 147 yards (9.2 Y/A) when he was not blitzed on Sunday, but he also only averaged 3.6 air yards per attempt when he was not blitzed, the lowest rate in the NFL.

Washington threw to their running backs a league-high 33.3% of the time.

What was disappointing is that Tampa Bay lost three cornerbacks in the first half, and Washington was still scared to push the football vertically.

Was this because Washington expected Todd Bowles to be aggressive and this was a form of protection, or was this just more of the same Horizontal Raid we saw from Kliff Kingsbury in Arizona?

That is what we need a further sample size on, but we do not want to fully lean on Daniels as a runner to the degree that we did in Week 1, despite gladly taking the initial results.

We know Daniels is going to have a floor with his legs, but 73.8% of his fantasy points came via rushing in Week 1.

Even as the resident Swami of Konami, we want to ideally marry his passing and rushing ability to create a fantasy juggernaut.

That said, his rushing ability is something this offense is going to have to utilize.

That rushing ability will give Daniels insulation as a fantasy QB1 even when things go poorly through the air.

We should learn more about this offense against a New York defense that was sliced up by Sam Darnold in Week 1.

In their first game under Shane Bowen, the Giants blitzed on 20% of the passing snaps (18th) and played man coverage on 24.0% of passing plays (16th).

They were second in both of those categories in 2023 under Wink Martindale.

The Giants did create pressure on 40.0% of Darnold’s dropbacks (6th) thanks to Dexter Lawrence doing work, but Darnold found no resistance as a passer, completing 79.2% of his passes (3rd) for 8.7 yards per attempt (7th).

Daniel Jones: Opening the season on the hot seat, things immediately were engulfed in flames for Jones after Week 1.

He posted a 44.3 rating, ahead of only Bryce Young (32.8).

He completed just 52.4% of his passes (28th) for 4.4 yards per pass attempt (28th) against Minnesota.

When pressured, Jones was 5-of-15 (33.3%) for 27 yards (1.8 Y/A).

As bad as Jones was, we have to keep the lights on for him this week as a matchup-based option in 2QB formats and even as a large-field DFS option.

Even with the hiring of Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt to run this defense, Washington had the same defensive issues as a year ago during the season opener.

After allowing the most passing points per game in 2023 (19.2), Washington allowed a league-high 27.6 passing points to Baker Mayfield in Week 1.

Going back to last season, Washington has now allowed a league-high 15 QB1 scoring weeks.

Jones did not face Washington last season, but that run of QB1 scoring weeks includes both Tyrod Taylor (QB6) and Tommy DeVito (QB5) when these teams met in 2023.

Quinn is no stranger to Jones from his time with the Cowboys.

In four games against Quinn’s Dallas defenses, Jones only averaged 5.5 Y/A with 1 touchdown pass.

But Washington just may not have the pieces yet for this defense to be as effective as Quinn wants.

I cannot fully dive in with Jones as a “TRUST” since he still requires a long stride of faith, but I am cautiously optimistic that we can get one of his more productive fantasy outings.

Running Back

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