Redskins vs. Giants: Key Storylines to Watch on 'Thursday Night Football'

Last season, the New York Giants swept the Washington Redskins aside with a 45-14 crushing in Week 4.

Few are expecting a similar outcome in this Thursday Night Football matchup.

The Giants are winless after two games in which they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, while the Redskins recovered from a Week 1 loss by beating the St. Louis Rams.

Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning have both come under fire for the Giants’ 0-2 start, but there is no greater opportunity to silence the critics than with a prime-time win against their greatest rivals.

Here are four things to look out for in this NFC East grudge match.

Redskins’ Explosive Running Game vs. Giants’ Stout Run Defense

The emergence of the Redskins’ two-headed monster, Alfred Morris and Matt Jones, will enable head coach Jay Gruden and offensive coordinator Sean McVay to base their offense around their running backs in 2015.

Morris and Jones, a third-round pick in the 2015 draft, have racked up a staggering 331 rushing yards combined.

Morris has been a bell cow in his three NFL seasons, while Jones combines the rarest of traits—power and speed. Few 230-pound players can reach 21.7 miles per hour, as Jones did on a 39-yard touchdown run against the Rams, per NFL.com’s Chris Wesseling.

With that said, Thursday night will provide a stern test for the duo. The Giants rank third in run defense, conceding just 68 yards per game.

If defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit continues to be just as suffocating, then the Redskins may be forced to rely on quarterback Kirk Cousins, who threw four interceptions in that Week 4 loss last year.

With Morris and Jones running the show, Cousins has been little more than a game manager this season. We might see his role altered on Thursday night.

Redskins’ Possession Dominance

The Redskins imperious running game has ensured that the offense has spent plenty of time on the field.

Washington has retained possession of the football for an average of 37 minutes and 49 seconds per game. Only the Dallas Cowboys have bettered that time thus far.

Football is a tough sport when you don’t have the ball—even more so when you allow opposing teams to chew the clock with little resistance, as the Giants defense has done. Through two games, the Giants have allowed seven drives of five-plus minutes, according to James Kratch of NJ.com.

The Giants must accomplish what the Miami Dolphins and Rams failed to do—keep Morris and Jones off the field.

Odell’s Involvement

The first two weeks of the NFL season have proven than Odell Beckham Jr. is far and away the Giants best offensive weapon.

So it was amazing to see him targeted just twice in the second half in Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons, especially considering he had six receptions and a 67-yard touchdown before halftime.

Looking beyond Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz, the Giants' receiving corps is considerably short on talent. Preston Parker was cut on Tuesday after a miserable start to the season that included five dropped passes. Larry Donnell and Rueben Randle have combined for just 77 receiving yards.

With Cruz sidelined with a calf injury, Manning’s main objective should be to get the ball in his star receiver’s hands early and often.

"

Odell Beckham is fastest WR to 100 catches (103 in 14 games) in NFL history. His 1,495 yards are most through first 14 games of a career.

— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) September 22, 2015"

Eli’s Concentration

Manning has been inexplicably careless in 2015, especially toward the conclusion of games.

Against the Cowboys, he showed poor clock management rarely seen in a rookie—let alone a veteran in his 12th season.

He told Rashad Jennings not to score a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys, the result of which would have been a 10-point lead—assuming the extra point was successful—with less than two minutes remaining.

That was before the incompletion on third down, when a sack would have given Tony Romo 40 fewer seconds to work with on that comeback drive.

Against the Falcons, the Giants squandered a 10-point lead. In the third quarter, they looked set to add to that lead before Manning fumbled the ball in the red zone, gifting the Falcons a lifeline they would capitalize on.

Late in the fourth, Manning was penalized for a delay of game, turning a 3rd-and-7 into a 3rd-and-12.

Manning isn’t the sole reason that the Giants have thrown away leads in their opening two games, but smarter quarterback play is essential. If their most important player isn’t switched on for 60 minutes, then the Giants are destined to struggle.

Prediction

Manning has talented outlets in Beckham Jr. and Shane Vereen but the Giants lack depth in the offensive skill positions to outscore a Redskins team that possesses a relentless running game. The Redskins will win this NFC East clash 21-17.

Statistics courtesy of NFL.com.