What are the chances the Giants play in London next season?

With the NFC East being up for grabs, the likely only way in for the Giants, who in addition to Washington have the Eagles in the regular-season finale, to see the postseason is to hang on to their lead, a lead that survived last week’s bye. We’re studying them. They’ve got a lot of film on us.

Efficient Pierre Garcon remains a veteran presence in the receiving corps for Washington and leads the team with 473 receiving yards. “It’s a division game, and that’s all that matters”.

Like the Giants, the Redskins have used a committee of running backs. Washington will face the Cincinnati Bengals on October 30 at Wembley Stadium and, depending on its final record this season, could face the St. Louis Rams a week earlier at Twickenham Stadium. WR Odell Beckham Jr. has posted three consecutive 100-yard games for the Giants and Eli Manning has nine touchdown passes, one interception and a 118.3 quarterback rating in the past three meetings.

“I feel like there’s a lot we can learn from this past game and it’s going to make us better in the long run”, said Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins, who was intercepted once and lost two fumbles against Carolina. A one-point win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers raised hopes that were dashed by a blowout loss to the New England Patriots one week later. If the Rams finish second, then the NFC East runner-up would travel to London to play them. And two other teams in similar circumstances, the 2008 Vikings and 2003 Ravens, each finished with 10 wins. “I think he’s picked up things pretty quickly and hopefully he can come in and help us out”. As a result, it “kind of changed” the Redskins’ approach.

However, that doesn’t mean the Giants will get to relax going into Week 13 of the regular season.

The Redskins have a 65-98-4 all-time record against the Giants, having lost each of the last five contests.

“We’re in the position to be tied for first place in the division”, defensive lineman Kedric Golston said, “but at the end of the day, we’ve got to fix the stuff we need to fix”. “A lot of it goes back to turnovers and penalties and some of the same mistakes that are going to hurt you in any of the games you play”.

“The rookies”, he said, “they’re not rookies any more”. They hold a one-game lead over Washington and Philadelphia in the standings. “If we do that, we expect to be right there”.

After two slow games in his return from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for two months, Jackson broke out against the Panthers with five catches for 87 yards, 56 of which came on a touchdown reception in the first quarter. The numbers get even more staggering if you go back to before 2010.

“Our job is to try to fix what our problems are, and we are trying to do that. It’s a matter of just being able to control the football, control the clock, stay on the field and that’s when the opportunities present themselves”.