Giants Can Start Something Special With a Win Over Commanders

The New York Giants will be playing their second divisional game of the season on Sunday afternoon, as they will battle the Washington Commanders in the nation's capital.

The Giants are 3-1 this year, with all three of their wins coming at MetLife Stadium. They dropped their lone road game against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2, when Jaxson Dart went down with a season-ending knee injury.

Playing away from the Meadowlands is a very different animal, and New York knows this. So, obviously, does John Harbaugh.

The Giants aren't facing an incredibly difficult opponent here. The Commanders are just 1-3, and while they are getting Jayden Daniels back, they will be without Stefon Diggs, who is out with a hamstring injury. Terry McLaurin seems to be a game-time decision due to a hamstring issue of his own.

But this is an NFC East matchup on the road, and those are never easy.

Plus, it's not like New York topped world-beaters the last couple of weeks, defeating the Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals — who are a combined 1-7 — on game-ending interceptions.

Washington is favored in this contest, which is understandable considering the Giants have a plethora of injury problems of their own.

So if New York manages to win this game, it could really be the start of something special for Big Blue.

The Giants are entering Week 5 in sole possession of first place in the NFC East, and if you've taken a look around the rest of the division, the teams are in shambles.

The Philadelphia Eagles — the odds-on favorites to win the division — are banged up beyond belief and just watched as Lane Johnson abruptly retired.

The Dallas Cowboys — whom the Giants defeated in the season opener — are now 2-3 after losing at home to a previously 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad that was missing Baker Mayfield.

The Commanders just aren't very good.

It is within reason that even without Dart and Brian Burns, New York can actually win this division, and if it beats Washington on Sunday, it will improve to 4-1 on the year and 2-0 within the NFC East.

The Giants will then face the New Orleans Saints next week, and the following week, they will battle a Houston Texans squad that is currently winless.

I'm not betting on it, but 6-1 is on the table for New York heading into the bye, and to be quite frank, it might only take nine wins to capture this catastrophe of a division.

The Giants' schedule gets much more difficult in the second half, so they need to take care of business now. Beating the Commanders in Washington would be a phenomenal step.