Three key matchups to watch in Thursday’s New York Giants vs. Washington Football Team game

The battle of the winless teams takes place at FedEx Field tomorrow, Thursday, at 8:20 pm between the Washington Football Team and the New York Giants. If you read that first statement like both teams were winless heading into week four and not week two, you read it right. This is an important game already, especially for Washington just one week into the season, and they will need to find a way to get a win against their division rival, which has been hard to come by in recent years.

An ugly record against the New York Giants over the past five seasons. One of the biggest takeaways from the opener against the Los Angeles Chargers was how they exploited Washington’s pass defense. From a pass-blocking and overall schematic perspective, the Chargers challenged Washington’s linebackers and cornerbacks in the air, all while dominating up front against Chase Young and the rest of the defensive line. Washington has an opportunity against the New York Giants to improve offensively and defensively. Still, for the defense who has struggled to stop the Daniel Jones-led Giants, they will have the chance to change the narrative. Here are my three key matchups to watch against the New York Giants.

Logan Thomas vs. Giants linebackers

In week one, Denver Broncos tight end Noah Fant led his team in targets and tied for first in receptions against the Giants. Fant had a lot of success over the middle and lined up plenty as a slot receiver and in-line. Thomas probably won’t see as many snaps as Fant did in the slot; however, offensive coordinator Scott Turner should challenge the Giants linebackers and whoever’s responsible for covering Thomas from the opening drive. Alternatively, the Giants played plenty of zone coverage, too, and it’ll be up to Thomas to find the open voids and quarterback Taylor Heinicke to find him.

Brandon Scherff and Ereck Flowers vs. Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams

This matchup may end up determining how successful Washington’s offense can be, period.

The Broncos running backs ended the game with 25 carries for 146 rush yards. However, if you eliminate running back Melvin Gordon’s 70-yard run, the Giants had 24 carries for just 76 rush yards, which is just 3.1 yards per carry. The Giants defense is still pretty good up front and will not hesitate to utilize their big men on all three downs. Washington will have a long day if Williams and Lawrence take over this game from the interior.

Dyami Brown vs. Adoree’ Jackson

Brown saw 51 out of a possible 55 offensive snaps for Washington this past Sunday. While I think that was a mistake, and that veteran Cam Sims should have had more than just two snaps, the coaches clearly wanted Brown on the field as much as they could. With that being said, Brown will likely see many matchups against Jackson and will need to produce much more than one catch on four targets.

This is the one target in which I feel like Dyami had a chance for a big play and was not at fault for this target not being completed. However, outside of that one play, Brown will need to be much more active if he sees 93 percent of the snaps. It starts with beating Jackson in the Giants' secondary.

Those are three matchups I will be looking at heading into this week’s matchup; what are some matchups you are looking into?