Manning shines, Cousins flounders as Giants hammer Redskins 45-14

Getty Images

Eli Manning tossed four touchdowns and ran for another as the New York Giants cruised to a 45-14 victory over the Washington Redskins on Thursday night.

Manning completed 28 of 39 passes for 300 yards and four touchdowns with all four thrown to tight ends.

His counterpart for Washington struggled mightily.

Kirk Cousins was intercepted four times and lost a fumble with three of the picks leading directly to Giants touchdowns. Not only was Cousins intercepted four times, but the throws that were pilfered were incredibly poor decisions as well.

Washington had six turnovers on the night that the Giants converted in 31 points. The Redskins were also just 1 for 8 on third down.

It was the Washington defense that struggled during the first half as they appeared to forget that tight ends are eligible receivers. Larry Donnell scored three touchdowns in the first half on throws from Manning as the Giants built a 24-7 halftime lead. Fumbles by Cousins and tight end Logan Paulsen led to 10 first half points for New York. Manning also hit tight end Daniel Fells for a 2-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

Cousins then completely fell apart. His four interceptions came over a span of five possessions for Washington. Only one possession all night lasted longer than six plays for the Redskins. Cousins finished the game 19 of 33 for 257 yards with one touchdown pass to Andre Roberts.

The Giants improve to 2-2 on the year while the Redskins fall to 1-3 with two difficult games against Seattle and Arizona upcoming the next two weeks.

115 responses to “Manning shines, Cousins flounders as Giants hammer Redskins 45-14

  1. There was one camera shot, right after Cousins threw his last pick of the night, of Jay Gruden who looked like he was about to cry. He looked completely broken and in over his head.

  2. Takeaways:
    1. It’s official, Redskins have 2 bad QBs
    2. Just because the Redskins didn’t cover TEs doesn’t mean the Giants’ problems are fixed.

    that is all.

  3. Captain Kirk’s ship crashed tonight.

    I still say RG3rd stringer wouldn’t have put up the fight Kirk did in Philly. Or win the game against the Jaguars. He’s that bad with a messed leg. Watch the season opener against Philly last year

  4. nfl4days says: Sep 25, 2014 11:45 PM

    Kirk cousins is 1-5 as a stater. Can we please stop acting like he’s the second coming of Tom Brady?
    _________________________________

    Tom Brady would be 1-5 with these guys. So maybe he is.

  5. Giants on 2 game winning streak, over nine days from now when they git tore up by the Falcons. Eli Girlling throw 3 INT’s. Rise Up.

  6. Another good showing by the Giants O-line. If the offense continues to click like this, the Ben McAdoo hire will look like a genius move. And if Beckham plays against Atlanta, they won’t be able to double-team anyone – Cruz, Randle, Parker, Donnell, Washington, and Beckham will all have zone or single coverage. NYG defense is still giving up too many 20-yard plays and that has to change, because Matt Ryan will exploit that in a hurry a week from Sunday.

  7. From this night forward, the quarterback formerly known as Cousins shall heretofore be known as “Larry Neighbors”, as he is no longer worthy of being a family member after that pitiful performance.

  8. There was a reason teams didnt pursue Cousins last off-season. He cant put a complete game together. He has been abysmal in the second half of every game he has started.

    That’s my only gripe with Cousins. He is still a very much unproven QB.

  9. Second week in a row with a Thursday night blowout can’t be good for ratings. Only drama was waiting to see if Phil Simms would slip up and drop a Redskins mention.

  10. The only LOGICAL conclusion is that The Redskins are a very very bad team, inept in every phase of the game….

  11. Fail to the Failskins! BobNeeds3Knees + Cousin’s the 1/2 dozen turnover machine = worst QB Tandem in the league.

    Your team’s headquarters are in Virginia and you claim Washington D.C….but somehow you think you’re Maryland’s pride and joy. Fail to the Failskins!

  12. In defense of the redskins they did just run a track meet with the fastest team on the planet just a few days ago while the giants played a relatively hapless team in Texans (when away from home it seems)

  13. Where’s all the know nothing eli bashers?? Come on?? We’ve heard 27 interceptions for 9 months? What’s the matter? You all butthurt that his line is blocking for him and he’s shredding teams? Good! Go pout in your basements.

    By the way… It’s gonna get even better when Odell gets in there.

  14. When this is over, Washington fans will be begging for Griffin back under center. Rule number 1 for QBs is to protect the football, which Cousins has never been particularly good at. At the end of this stretch, he should settle into a 2-9 type record or worse if Griffin’s injury lasts the duration of the season. He’s a good backup QB, and there is no coincidence that other teams didn’t trade for him.

  15. The redskins put there franchise back 10 years with that rg3 trade. They have terrible QB’s and the rest of the team sucks because they gave up all those draft picks. When will teams learn to just draft quantity with quality. It doesn’t help they have a terrible owner.

  16. I wish the Panthers had an O-coordinator like Ben McAdoo. Instead, we have a coordinator who runs the ball right up the middle and calls 15 yard comeback routes on 3rd and 3. Giants O is starting to click and their defense is looking tough too. Watch out for those Giants.

  17. Losing Hall killed the secondary. They did fine against Ertz, but I believe they wanted to take him away and the rushing attack. I doubt on the short week, they were preparing to take Donell away. They did good against the RB’s. I’ll assume that was their strategy. They won’t be in many games if the secondary doesn’t get better. Eli is not that good, just as they thought the same of Foles. Teams will employ a pass first strategy against these guys, until they stop someone. Doesn’t matter who the QB is, if the opposing QB has a rating way over 100, like the past 2 weeks. Kirk reminds me of Schaub. A back-up, who will be given a job somewhere to start, but may not do much with it.

  18. He is better. He has rarely worked with the starters RG has worked with the starters since he came into the league and still has as many TOs as TDs and still has a losing record as QB. Maybe he is the better of two terrible QBs but he is still better.

  19. Crazy how one week can change the opinions of people so drastically. Last week Cousins was annoited the second coming of Tom Brady himself. And this week…well, did I really just read someone comment “Elite Eli?” Wasnt the NY media just hyping up benching him due to his turnover problem. Sheesh. What a difference one game makes.

  20. Philly exposed how bad the Washington pass defense is… All year that’s going to keep happening…. On offense, I suppose it’ll be up & down… Also Gruden made decisions like a rookie head coach- bad challenge etc… But I think he’ll get better. Many injuries don’t help either. Kirk lost his mojo facing pressure he hadn’t seen from Philly or Jax…They were a 6-7 win team 4 weeks ago, I guess we got excited after the last 2 games…

  21. Looks like the classless Washington team showed up as usual. 1-3.

    Another heartbreaking season begins for Washington. And the dumpster fire of a team ignites. Djax , miss 3-0 Philly yet?

    Give me all your thumbs down Washington, it’s ok to cry it out.

    #ICWT

  22. First all the experts were saying Eli is washed up, now he is elite again. At the same time they were fawning over cousins and now he’ll never be an NFL QB. I never thougt Eli was done and I think Cousins will be fine. Football is football.

  23. Hmm, I guess Eli doesn’t suck after all does he?

    Hmm, I guess maybe the so called experts should gave a team a quarter of a season in a new system before declaring everyone sucks?

    This GIANTS fan, along with many others is just smiling right now, knowing that a little patience would be rewarded.

    I guess putting a two time SB MBP into a legitimate offense could work, hmmm?

    All you haters can go suck it now.

    GIANTS will be good this year.

  24. Eli — 28 of 39. Just doing the math in my head……that’s a little over 70% by golly.

    And they said it couldn’t be done.

  25. Stats wise, RGIII was never as bad as Kirk Cousins was last night.

    I’m not saying RGIII is the answer for Washington, but people are delusional if they think Cousins is a legitimate starter.

  26. This is what happens when you supply Eli Manning with a formidable option at the tight end position. Ever since his inception he’s had a reliable target playing tight end: Jeremy Shockey, Kevin Boss, Jake Ballard and then Martellus Bennett.

    The best quarterbacks in the league use the TE position to create mismatches and open the outer lanes of the field. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and Aaron Rodgers either have or had a target from the TE spot to bring the safety in and create one-on-ones for receivers.

  27. I think the last time Atlanta came to NY they put up 2 points. Be careful what you wish for falcon fans.

  28. RGIII was secretly elated about Kirk’s meltdown.. you can just tell he’s that kind of dude.. and settle down Giants fans, you’re team is still terrible, they just happened to play an even worse train wreck last night

  29. Good Win too my Giants. To bad that even Giants fan are to quick to judge our team dead based on the 1st game of the season. People there are 12 more games left, make your judgements then not on any given Sunday!

  30. Not trying to throw salt on any Redskins fans, but here it goes. Jay Gruden needs an wstablished QB for his scheme to suceed. He didnt do Andy Dalton any favors by asking him to throw it as much as he did the last 3 yrs in Cincy. Until he realizes running the football is key for young QBs, your offense’s success will resemble a yo yo.Thats for taking him and leaving us Hue. Good luck going fwd.

  31. That was an impressive win by NYG. I thought Cousins had no where to go but down after the game 3 days ago.

  32. I like Kirk Cousins and I believe he’ll bounce back and play well again, he’s still a legitimate NFL starter.

  33. Take it easy Giants fans. Last night was an impressive win, but it was against Washington, and although both teams were on short rest, apparently it did not affect NY nearly as much as it affected Washington. With Hall out and D. Jax essentially out, because he did nothing, I would expect NY to win with relative ease. I still see the Giants winning between 7 and 9 games, but still no threat to winning the NFC East. Philly will wrap up the division by week 15. I still think Cousins is better than RGIII, but he started pressing when they fell behind, and that is the main reason he made so many mistakes, especially in the 2nd half.

  34. So has everyone jumped off the Cousins bandwagon now? Now for his career, he has 14 TDs to 18 TOs (15 ints and 3 fumbles). The guy has always had a turnover problem, so this game was less surprising than his performance last week was.

  35. How this O-line got it, I don’t know or care, but Eli never use to throw before the TE/WR was making his break. Now Eli lets the ball go to the TE/WR & they have to be there to catch it.
    It’s working so far, and last night Eli was as good as he can be, and without speed in OBJ or Washington on the outside.
    If the O-line can continue, stay healthy, this team has TC to make sure they play “one game at a time”.
    Begulls & Giants will be in the hunt until the end.
    Oh yeah, the defense looked OK too!
    CT GIANT

  36. And…that awful feeling when I left Eli on the bench for Cam Newton in FFB, and he goes off for 40+ points. Giants look to be turning it around. Not so much for my fantasy team.

  37. Difference between a Redskins fan and an Eagles fan:

    Redskins fans (and media) were ready to call Cousins a franchise quarterback after 2 good performances (one in which he choked at the end).

    Eagles fans (and local media) still aren’t ready to call Nick Foles a franchise QB despite the fact that he’s 11-2 in regular season starts and he was the league’s highest rated passer last year.

  38. Not all eagles fans feel that way but while he’s 11-1, that’s still not a full season worth of games, he’s still yet to win a playoff game….cousins on the other hand had a real bad game but he’s playing on a bad team, way too early to tell with either one but I said this last week, cousins got scared in the 4th quarter vs the eagles, looked scared from the start tonight

  39. This can most definitely be blamed on the coaching, or lack of it. CJG only called 7 runs in the first half, when it was clear that the Redskins’ O-line couldnt give Cousins time to throw. When you have Alfred Morris, you have to run it much more than that.

    Better coaching, and Cousins doesn’t toss those picks.

  40. The Washington team is just an awful franchise. How many head coaches have they had in the last 20 years? How many different starting QBs? The RGIII trade set them back at least 5 years. I think he’s a talented player, and given the right team could be good (although the question about whether he can stay healthy is a legitimate one). But you DO NOT TRADE 3 YEARS OF DRAFT PICKS FOR ONE PLAYER!!!!

  41. We just seem to find new and interesting ways to embarrass ourselves on national TV. Can’t wait until next Monday night, that should be thoroughly emasculating.

    It seems like I’ve seen this movie before.

    HTTR!!

  42. Washington lost a close game and then had a short week coming home against a division team. That’s a bad emotional spot. The Giants are somewhat better than originally thought to be, but they were the beneficiary of an emotionally flat team with a bad game plan. If the Eagles lose to the 9’ers and they should due to their own emotional flatness coming off of last week, flying across the country and attrition on their offensive line; this will set up for an interesting week 6 game. Eagles probably win it though. They go into their buy 5-1 and Giants and Dallas just won’t be able to catch up.

  43. Given the close proximity in time to recent traffic death of former Titans’ player Bironas, reports of his driving history and related story-links (“Taboola”) you provide here, the “Road Rage” theme might be best shelved for awhile.

  44. sobceo says:
    Sep 26, 2014 12:02 AM
    Kirk threw 3 INT in 1 quarter.. RG3 has NEVER thrown 3 interceptions in a game!!! #FACT

    ————————————————–
    Bobby has never thrown 3 passes over ten yards in a quarter. 80% of his passes are screens or less than 7 yards down field.
    But I am regressing. The Washington team is in trouble whether it is Cousins or Griffin at QB, neither one is good enough to consistently win games at the NFL level.

  45. Washingon sucks but who didn’t know that! Typical Washington football team: let the visiting New Yawk team crush you like ants. Nice.

  46. Sorry but Cousins isn’t better than RG3. Those weren’t interceptions – those were gifts. He threw the ball to the Gmen. I don’t know if I have ever seen a qb go from solid/strong to forgetting how to play the game in 4 days. I don’t think the Redskins will win until Snyder sells em – it’s just bad karma or something…

  47. Well look who is back “logicalvoicesayswhat”.
    Haven’t heard from you in a while. Figured you started rooting for a real team. 45 to 14 shame, shame. See, you have been living in a fantasy world. Last night we introduced you to REALITY.

  48. Kirk has a noodle arm. All of his throws yesterday had no juice and especially his interceptions. I said this last week as well, Kirk Cousins ceiling is pretty much what you see right now, RG3 has the “potential” to be much better. He is sort of in that josh freeman zone, where he had one great season, and two seasons of being coddled and a bad qb. Griffin will now have less pressure when he comes back because cousins sucks and its really up to him to seize the opportunity and become a franchise qb

  49. Even though Washington sucks and they were playing Cousins, a second string QB, the substantial win for the Gmen still gave them the confidence they need. Also Eli was stellar because his WRs were working with him and catching the balls that they get paid to catch. it all gelled together. Eli looked happy and that makes me happy.

  50. you said

    justintuckrule says:
    Sep 26, 2014 1:01 AM
    Where’s all the know nothing eli bashers?? Come on?? We’ve heard 27 interceptions for 9 months? What’s the matter? You all butthurt that his line is blocking for him and he’s shredding teams? Good! Go pout in your basements.

    By the way… It’s gonna get even better when Odell gets in there.

    Well said. my sentiments exactly. You said it perfectly. Ppl have been obsessing about that statistic for 9 months. Hopefully they will eat their words. Love your post!

  51. you said thefirstsmilergrogan says:
    Sep 26, 2014 12:03 AM
    regression to the mean as i suspected…

    The independent variable was elite eli and WR working with him, and dependent variable was substantial win by gmen. now lets do the y intercept.
    then we can conduct an analysis of variance and compare means

  52. Don’t make predictions about the Giants based on this game: Washington sucks as badly as any team in the league, so crushing them in their own stadium means less.

  53. My other comment was moderated (imagine that) but what happened to Mr. #HTTR? Mighty quiet now, aren’t you?

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.