An inside take a look at Sunday’s Giants-Commanders NFL Week 11 matchup in Landover, Md.:
Marquee matchup
Commanders RT Andrew Wylie vs. Giants OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux
There’s something about seeing the Washington uniform that brings out the perfect in Thibodeaux, who hung out this past week in concussion protocol before he was cleared for motion.
Thibodeaux had 1.5 sacks in the primary time these teams met this season — and in addition dropped an interception that ought to have been a pick-six.
His breakout game as a rookie got here against Washington, with a sack-fumble that he became his first NFL touchdown.
Wylie has allowed six sacks and Pro Football Focus grades him because the Thirty first-best offensive tackle within the league.
Paul’s pick
Yes, the Commanders as a double-digit favorite is a bit extreme.
They’re 4-6 and haven’t won a game this season by greater than eight points.
Explain this point spread as a direct shot on the Giants’ feeble offense. Plus, the defense was not-so-hot last week, was it?
That’s a nasty combination.
This rivalry normally favors the Giants, but they’re fairly downtrodden in the meanwhile.
Commanders 24, Giants 10
4 downs
Inside job: It’s rare when a team trades away its sack leader and almost unprecedented when a team ships out its top two sack leaders.
That’s what the Commanders did seven games into this season, sending Montez Sweat to the Bears and Chase Young to the 49ers.
Those two defensive ends combined for 11.5 sacks but weren’t within the plans moving forward.
On the inside, Washington still has two former first-round picks in Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen.
“Same guys are going to be lining up over me on the inside so my matchups are just about the identical,’’ right guard Ben Bredeson told The Post.
Homeboy: When Tommy DeVito revealed he resides at home in Cedar Grove, N.J., together with his parents, everyone got a kick out of it and his story gained national traction.
“I stay at home, clearly, as everybody knows now, right?’’ he said, laughing. “I mean I live in a small town, you won’t go somewhere without seeing any individual you recognize. It’s just all of the support is unreal.’’
This will likely be DeVito’s second NFL start, and his positive approach, despite the losing, will not be lost on his teammates.
“Especially once we are in, if you ought to call it some type of drought or whatever you ought to call it, just not playing as much as the usual that we wish to in any respect times throughout the sport,’’ DeVito said. “Just keep trying, just keep everybody upbeat and that’s for myself too.’’
Unraveling the situation: Yes, Saquon Barkley and coach Brian Daboll had an animated conversation on the sideline in Dallas after a missed fourth-down conversion.
Yes, Sterling Shepard looked as if he was going after Darius Slayton (when in reality he was attempting to calm Slayton down after Slayton had words with receivers coach Mike Groh).
Are the Giants coming apart on the seams?
“Some of these things is only a reach,’’ Barkley said. “It’s not — if we were 8-2, none of that might be an issue. There’s been times, multiple times last yr where I may need had a disagreement or I may need said out of frustration, something on the sideline that just wasn’t picked up or someone didn’t report about it.’’
Up, up and away: The Giants are averaging an NFL-low 11.8 points a game.
Touchdowns too often include the frequency of a direct deposit paycheck — once every week.
Time to shake things up?
How about having offensive coordinator Mike Kafka come down out of the press box and call the plays on the sphere, where he will be in the middle of the motion and feel the heart beat of the players?
“I like being up top, and really, it’s to the preference of the pinnacle coach where he wants me, and I fully support that,’’ Kafka said. “We each talked about it, we each agreed it’s probably the perfect thing to do exactly to get the space. Have some quietness down there when things are going crazy, so I feel it’s effective and I prefer it up there.’’
