Control the ground game; start fast

The stakes are always bigger in sequels.

For the second time in 14 days, the New York Giants will take on the Washington Commanders after playing to a 20-20 tie at MetLife Stadium in Week 13. While the latter sat idle in the week between the meetings, the former fell to the NFL-leading Philadelphia Eagles.

Now, the Giants and Commanders enter their rematch with identical 7-5-1 records as they currently occupy the final two spots in the NFC playoff field. The winner on Sunday at FedExField will grab a valuable tiebreaker chip with just three games remaining in the regular season while the Seahawks (7-6) and Lions (6-7) nip at their heels.

“Coach [Brian] Daboll always says, ‘What we do in December is what people remember,'” offensive tackle Andrew Thomas said. “These games mean the most, and we’re blessed to have our opportunity to compete, have an opportunity to play in the playoffs. We’re looking forward to the challenge – we’ve just got to do a good job of executing.”

Here are three keys to victory for the Giants in the key divisional matchup:

Control the ground game, control the clock

The Giants are 4-0 when they have a 100-yard rusher this season, and the Commanders are averaging 147 yards on the ground over their past eight games, which yielded six wins, one tie and a loss. Washington owns the best average time of possession in the NFL and controlled the ball for a season-long 41 minutes, 11 seconds against the Giants in the first meeting. Saquon Barkley has averaged just 38 rushing yards per game during the Giants’ current 0-3-1 skid, and a neck injury combined with a runaway loss to the Eagles caused him to have a season-low nine carries last week. On the defensive side, the Giants have allowed 187 rushing yards per game over the past four weeks.

“I think some of the things earlier in the year, too, is we had some good numbers but some of those were from big runs, too,” Daboll said. “So, you look at the type of game you’re playing in, whether you’re behind, whether you’re getting as many touches as you want to get. You look at the play design; you look at all 11 on the same page. I think it’s probably a variety of things. Certainly missing a few big plays out there is one of them and just being on the same page and making sure we get a hat for a hat, getting downhill and making some positive yards. I’d say some of the games we didn’t run it probably as much as we would’ve run it based on where we were at. So, all that being said, we’re just not doing…