Blog

Full Volume: 24-20, Weird Al, and Five Hamstrings

By Ben · October 8, 2026

On Sunday I promised you a new number for the Giants, and I promised you'd hear it at full volume. So here it is, with the caps lock on: COMMANDERS 24, GIANTS 20. We keep it close, per usual, and then we pull away. Write it down. I already did.

The week starts tonight. Weird Al is at John Paul Jones Arena, and I'm going to be honest with you, because that's the deal around here: it's kind of an obligation. Nicole has to work it, and I'd rather not do a late night with Syracuse on Saturday and the Giants on Sunday. My entire Weird Al catalog is "Amish Paradise" and "Fat." That's the whole set list I'm bringing. If he plays both, I'm leaving happy. If he plays neither, I'm still clapping, because I was raised right.

Saturday, Syracuse comes to Scott Stadium for a 7:30 kickoff. Are we going? We're going. Duh. Then Sunday the forecast says pouring rain again, possibly the leftovers of a hurricane, so the plan is either Buffalo Wild Wings or, more likely after a late one, a lazy day on the couch with the volume up.

The Injury Report

Now. I need to talk about the injury report, because I've been holding this in since Wednesday. Jason dropped it in our group chat with the caption "That's nearly half the team lol." The next morning, after a full night's sleep and a chance to process it like an adult, my official response was "jeezus tapdancing christ."

Twenty-three players were on Wednesday's report. That's not counting the five guys already on injured reserve: Laremy Tunsil, Leo Chenal, Jaylin Lane, Jer'Zhan Newton and Jordan Magee. Six of the 23 didn't practice at all, eleven were limited, and six were a full go, which is the football version of "fine, thanks for asking." I'm going through all of them, because if I had to read it, so do you.

Five hamstrings. Terry McLaurin, Stefon Diggs, Chig Okonkwo, Percy Butler and Tyler Owens. That's our top two receivers, a tight end and two safeties, all grabbing the backs of their legs at the same time like a very sad dance troupe.

Four groins. Charles Omenihu, who also has an ankle, as a treat. Jacory Croskey-Merritt. Frankie Luvu. And Sonny Styles, who was just named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. He's a rookie. Leave him alone.

Then the specialists. Ben Sinnott has a new rib injury. Rachaad White has a shoulder. Nick Allegretti has a hip. Marcus Mariota, the salt-and-pepper fox himself, has the MCL, although Dan Quinn says he's not going on IR and should be back sooner than later. And Sam Cosmi is in the concussion protocol and is also listed with a throat injury. A throat. I've been watching this team for more than thirty years and I did not know the throat was in play.

Even the full-go guys aren't spotless: Javon Kinlaw's shoulder, Treylon Burks's shoulder, Jeremy Reaves's knee and elbow, Fabian Moreau's knee. Nick Cross is back practicing in full after a hospital stay in Dallas, and Nick, I mean this: welcome back.

The good news, and there is some: Trey Amos and Jeremy McNichols are practicing again on their way back from injured reserve, and Deatrich Wise Jr. is working back from a torn quad. The cavalry is coming. It's just coming on crutches.

Honestly, at this point I just want to see us field fifty percent of a football team. It's gone past unlucky and all the way to stupid. Jason said last week we should have just become the Owls, and I'm coming around on it, because as far as I know an owl has never pulled a hamstring.

Meanwhile, the group chat drifted into grills this week, and I did some math. I still have the Weber Q from my first apartment. It comes to every UVA home game tailgate, and it has grilled through a lot of Washington football. It is 23 years old. I have replaced nothing. It fires up the first time, every time. Twenty-three years, zero names on its injury report. Twenty-three names on ours. Somebody get Dan Quinn a Weber.

Jayden's Back

The best news of the week: Jayden Daniels practiced in full, and he's a go for Sunday with a brace on that left elbow. Somebody on r/Commanders wrote him a letter this week that I think about roughly once an hour: "If you throw a pick, don't try to tackle the dude. Sincerely, Your elbow." Jayden, buddy. Listen to your elbow.

The Giants

The Giants come in at 3-1 and sitting on top of the NFC East, which is a sentence I'm choosing not to think about for very long. Their quarterback is Jameis Winston, at least until they decide it's J.J. McCarthy, and Jameis is a Florida State man, which these days is just a nice footnote. We're favored by three and a half, which is a lot of faith in a team that spent the week in the trainer's room.

And the ref, for the record, is Clete Blakeman. According to the brand-new ref card on this site, he's about the most average referee in America: 13.1 flags a game for his crews, against a league average of 13.2. After London, I'll take average. I'll take average and send a thank-you note.

Jason, who called London right, also called this one for us. Two for two, buddy. Don't let me down.

Full Volume

So here's the call one more time, loud: COMMANDERS 24, GIANTS 20. Close for three quarters, then Jayden does something in that brace that gets a soaked stadium on its feet, and we pull away. Got your own number? There's a "Call your shot" box on the homepage now. Put it in, and on Monday we'll see how the crowd did against me.

One More Thing

A little housekeeping. The Burgundy Wire has stickers. Five of them are on a truck headed to my house right now, due Saturday, and if they look half as good in person as they do on my screen, you'll be able to get one soon. A few bucks each, just enough to keep the lights on around here.

Hail.