The Commanders are headed home for the holidays with a win in tow after beating the Giants, 29-21, at MetLife Stadium. Running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt, wide receiver Jaylin Lane and cornerback Mikey Sainristil created big plays to help give Washington the 2025 sweep over New York.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Croskey-Merritt was a sparkplug for the Commanders at the beginning of the season, and that electricity was revived at MetLife in Week 15. Quarterback Marcus Mariota fed the ball to the two-time Rookie of the Week winner at a consistent clip in the first quarter, and he used both power and speed to turn those chances into chunk yards.

However, the second quarter was when Croskey-Merritt really found gaps to exploit. To start off the period, he ran up the middle for 11 yards. Two downs later, he showed great vision to cut back and ran 16yards into the end zone for his fifth touchdown of the season. The run was his longest on a day where he finished with a team-high 96 yards on 18 carries.

Croskey-Merritt's showing at the Meadowlands will undoubtedly help build the confidence of a young player who's shown a lot of promise. While that development might not be as consequential immediately in what's been a disappointing season for Washington, it can be huge as the team looks to build around certain young players on the roster.

Jaylin Lane

Also on that topic of young talent, Croskey-Merritt's draft classmate Lane had an impact performance against the Giants as the punt returner produced one of the most thrilling plays of the afternoon.

There were signs perhaps that a moment of special teams glory could be on the table for Lane when, inside the final minute of the first quarter, he identified a significant open space up the middle on his first return but ended up being brought down at the Giants' 47-yard line.

"That one was close. We almost got through," Lane said with a smile following the game.

Washington wasn't left sitting with what could have been for long. Just before halftime, the Virginia Tech product collected Cameron Johnston's punt at Washington's 37, saw the blue sea part and sliced through for a 63-yard run to the house. It was Lane's second punt return touchdown of the season, which ties a franchise record. He is just the fifth Washington player to score twice in a season on a punt return and the first to do it since running back Brian Mitchell in 1994. What's more, Lane is just the second rookie with two punt return touchdowns in a single season. The last was Johnny Williams, who achieved the feat in the 1952 season.

"My goal for this year was to just dominate my role," Lane said. "Receiver, returner, whatever role I'm given, just wanted to be my best and give that to the team and help us win games."

Considering the rare company he's already in and head coach Dan Quinn's game ball delivery after this win, Lane can feel like he's had a pretty solid rookie season by those standards.

Mikey Sainristil

While the Commanders turnover margin hasn't been where the team has wanted it to be, there have been important takeaways sprinkled in and each has significantly injected energy.

That was the case against the Giants. Second-year cornerback Sainristil, who has been involved in most of the defense's turnovers this season, read a long pass from Dart on second-and-4 with under 30 seconds to go before halftime. The 2024 draft pick said the play was one the defense "had been talking about all week."

"With No. 13 [Giants' Jalin Hyatt] being in the game, just reading him and just seeing how he was running his route, I could kind of feel that he wasn't going on a post," Sainristil explained. "So, I kind of shut down my side run and I was able to break on the ball faster than he was and beat him to the spot and was able to come up with it."

After securing the ball, the corner was able to run it back 55 yards, which set up a field goal for kicker Jake Moody to extend Washington's lead. The pick doubled Sainristil's total of interceptions from last season and makes him the first Washington cornerback to have at least four interceptions in a single season since CB Kendall Fuller in 2017 (4). Though there have been ups and downs in his second season, Sainristil continues to solidify his role as a lynchpin in Washington's defense.