The Washington Commanders are preparing for another road trip this weekend and will try to break their losing streak against the New York Giants. Here are four of the top storylines to follow throughout the week.

Jayden Daniels' availability

Daniels re-aggravated his elbow injury in the third quarter of last Sunday's game, which forced him to miss the rest of the afternoon. Head coach Dan Quinn revealed that there was no long-term damage -- a positive sign for the quarterback -- and while Daniels could have returned, Quinn decided to sit him because of how the game was unfolding.

Quinn said the Commanders would monitor Daniels throughout the week to determine if he can play against the Giants. Although the situation isn't ideal, the Commanders would still like to see Daniels get as many reps as possible, and hopefully play out the season, so the quarterback can continue his development.

"It's an important development time for him," Quinn said. "There's no 'zero-risk' game. We try to manage that, but for the development part of it, it's important."

Daniels has played in just seven games this season and had to leave three of them early.

Daniels will likely be on the injury report throughout the week as he recovers from falling on his elbow after taking a hit against the Vikings. Much like they have done all season, they will be cautious with his recovery and will only play him if he is fully healthy. They will probably wait until Friday to make the decision, and if he is still feeling the soreness he had on Monday, as Quinn said, then there's a good chance Marcus Mariota will start in his place.

Answers at tight end

Zach Ertz is lost for the season after tearing his ACL against the Vikings, and his departure leaves a void on the roster in terms of his leadership and production. While there isn't a way to replace the former, the team must try to find other answers for the latter, and that will require the other options at tight end to step up for the last month of the season.

With Ertz now out for the year, 2021 fourth-round pick John Bates will likely step up as the Commanders' No. 1 tight end. Bates, mostly known for his skills as a blocker, has eight catches for 71 yards this season. The team expressed a desire to get him more involved in the passing game, but those plans unraveled with the multiple injuries on offense that changed how the unit performed this season.

The fans will likely want to see more of Ben Sinnott, who the Commanders drafted in the second round of the 2024 draft. Sinnott has been less involved in the passing game than Bates over his last two seasons, as he has just nine catches on nine targets for 69 yards and two touchdowns. He was known as an athletic player during his time at Kansas State with 1,138 yards in three seasons. Perhaps he'll get to show off that skill set more often in the last month.

Defensive adjustments

The Commanders had one of their most disappointing performances of the season against the Vikings, allowing J.J. McCarthy, who entered the game with the lowest QBR in the league, to throw three touchdowns with zero interceptions and the Vikings' offense -- one of the worst units at converting third downs -- to rack up 26 first downs last Sunday. It was a regression for a unit that had shown improvement in the previous games against the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins, partially prompting Quinn to say after the game that the team took "three steps back."

Quinn believes it is imperative for the defense, as well as the entire team, to recapture the progress it made earlier in the season.

"Finding that edge, finding that spark, finding what needs to get done so we never find our way into this space again. Watching January and February football sucks; we're the ones that did that. And we've got to make sure that we do everything in our power individually to make sure that these four weeks matter and it's important and we got to go find those edges."

It is unknown at this point how the Commanders intend to fix their problems with four division games left on the schedule. The injuries on defense have limited the plays that Quinn can call, and the lack of personnel in the pass rush has given opposing quarterbacks plenty of time to pick apart the secondary's zone coverage.

Quinn is up for the challenge, though, no matter what that will require from him and his players.

"But it starts, honestly, this week in terms of the players, our execution of that. Usually, as a coach, you have an idea, 'Okay, that practice week didn't go well,' when there's a bad performance that follows that. By having good practices preceding a terrible loss, I was not ready for us to have that type of performance. I really wasn't. But we'll continue to look to dig, like you said, game plan, any of the practice routines, that's our charge, man. These four weeks, whatever we gotta do to get that part exactly like we want, that's really important."