Washington (3-10) at N.Y. Giants (2-11)
BetMGM NFL odds: Giants by 2 1/2.
Against the spread: Commanders 4-9; Giants 7-6.
Series record: New York leads 108-74-5.
Last meeting: Commanders beat Giants 21-6 on Sept. 7, 2025, at Washington.
Last week: Commanders lost to Vikings 31-0; Giants had bye, lost to Patriots 33-15 on Dec. 1.
Commanders offense: overall (18), rush (4), pass (24), scoring (24)
Commanders defense: overall (30), rush (29), pass (30), scoring (28)
Giants offense: overall (14), rush (13), pass (15), scoring (23)
Giants defense: overall (31), rush (31), pass (24), scoring (30)
Turnover differential: Commanders minus-11; Giants minus-7.
RB Chris Rodriguez Jr. The Giants allow 154.2 rushing yards a game and the Commanders are averaging 136.5, so perhaps this will be the week Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury lets Rodriguez get a few more carries. He had success last week against Minnesota when given the ball — gaining 5.2 yards per rush — but only ran the ball 10 times.
Rookie QB Jaxson Dart. His development is the most — and maybe only — important part left in this lost season. Dart says he just wants to win as the Giants play out the string, and he might be able to take advantage of an opponent that struggles against the run and the pass. Dart has thrown for 11 touchdowns and run for seven more in his first eight NFL starts.
Commanders' offensive line vs. Giants' pass rush. Only Cleveland's Myles Garrett, approaching the single-season record, has more sacks than New York's Brian Burns, with a career-high 13. Even without Kayvon Thibodeaux, there should be plenty of pressure on Mariota from Burns, rookie edge rusher Abdul Carter and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.
Commanders: QB Jayden Daniels will miss his seventh game of the season after aggravating his injured left elbow last week. That was his first game in more than a month after dislocating his nonthrowing elbow on Nov. 2. Daniels also missed two games with a sprained left knee and one game with a bad right hamstring earlier. … TE Zach Ertz went on IR this week after tearing his right ACL.
Giants: Thibodeaux could miss a fourth consecutive game because of a shoulder injury. ... With P Jamie Gillian nursing a left knee injury, Cameron Johnston was signed to the practice squad and could take over punting duties.
The Commanders won the past three meetings after losing the previous three. ... Washington is trying to sweep the two-game series against the Giants in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1982-83. ... Each team is expected to have a different starting QB than in Week 1: Marcus Mariota instead of Daniels for the Commanders, and Dart instead of Russell Wilson for the Giants.
Following eight consecutive defeats, Washington already has twice as many losses as it did all of last season, when it went 12-5 and then made it all the way to the NFC title game. ... The loss to Minnesota last week was the first time Washington had been shut out since 2019. ... The Commanders are 1-5 when Mariota starts this season. ... The Commanders have just seven takeaways this season, the same total as the Giants. The Jets (with two) are the only team with fewer. ... LB Von Miller’s sack last week against the Vikings raised his season total to a team-leading six and his career count to 135 1/2, putting him one away from passing Jared Allen for 12th on the all-time list. ... The Giants have lost seven in a row, with coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen getting fired during the skid. They've lost 25 of their past 30 games dating to last season. ... New York has had six different leading receivers in 13 games. WR Wan'Dale Robinson has a team-high 73 catches and 828 yards, while TE Theo Johnson has the most TD catches with five. ... Carter registered his first full sack against the Patriots after being benched for the first quarter, his second disciplinary action in three games.
Giants RB Tyrone Tracy is good to go after the bye week, interim coach Mike Kafka said. With snow potentially in the forecast, Tracy might get a healthy amount of carries and the chance to develop a rhythm in the running game.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart speaks to members of the media, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur)
Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) reacts after losing to the Denver Broncos in overtime of an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
FILE - Washington Commanders cornerback Car'lin Vigers (22) scores a touchdown against the New York Giants during the first half of an NFL football game, onSept. 7, 2025, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee executed Harold Wayne Nichols by lethal injection Thursday in Nashville for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley, a 20-year-old student at Chattanooga State University.
Nichols, 64, had confessed to killing Pulley as well as raping several other women in the Chattanooga area. Although he expressed remorse at trial, he admitted he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested. He was sentenced to death in 1990.
“To the people I've harmed, I'm sorry,” Nichols said in his final statement. Before Nichols died, a spiritual adviser spoke to him and recited the Lord’s Prayer. They both became emotional and Nichols nodded as the adviser talked, witnesses said.
Nichols’ attorneys unsuccessfully sought to have his sentence commuted to life in prison, citing the fact that he took responsibility for his crimes and pleaded guilty. His clemency petition stated “he would be the first person to be executed for a crime he pleaded guilty to since Tennessee re-enacted the death penalty in 1978.”
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a stay of the execution on Thursday.
In a recent interview, Pulley's sister, Lisette Monroe, said the wait for Nichols' execution has been “37 years of hell.” She described her sister as “gentle, sweet and innocent,” and said she hopes that after the execution she'll be able to focus on the happy memories of Pulley instead of her murder.
Nichols has seen two previous execution dates come and go. The state earlier planned to execute him in August 2020, but Nichols was given a reprieve due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Nichols had selected to die in the electric chair — a choice allowed in Tennessee for inmates who were convicted of crimes before January 1999.
Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol in 2020 used three different drugs in series, a process that inmates’ attorneys claimed was riddled with problems. Their concerns were shown to have merit in 2022, when Gov. Bill Lee paused executions, including a second execution date for Nichols. An independent review of the state’s lethal injection process found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed in Tennessee since 2018 had been properly tested.
The Tennessee Department of Correction issued a new execution protocol in last December that utilizes the single drug pentobarbital. Attorneys for several death row inmates have sued over the new rules, but a trial in that case is not scheduled until April. Nichols declined to chose an execution method this time, so his execution will be by lethal injection by default.
His attorney Stephen Ferrell explained in an email that “the Tennessee Department of Correction has not provided enough information about Tennessee’s lethal execution protocol for our client to make an informed decision about how the state will end his life.”
Nichols' attorneys on Monday won a court ruling granting access to records from two earlier executions using the new method, but the state has not yet released the records and says it will appeal. During Tennessee’s last execution in August, Byron Black said he was “hurting so bad” in his final moments. The state has offered no explanation for what might have caused the pain.
Many states have had difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs as anti-death penalty activists have put pressure on drug companies and other suppliers. Between the shortages and legal challenges over botched executions, some states have moved to alternative methods of execution including a firing squad in South Carolina and nitrogen gas in Alabama.
Including Nichols, a total of 45 men have died by court-ordered execution this year in the U.S.
People enter the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
People gather in the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstrators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
An anti-death penalty demonstrator holds rosary bead outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
People enter the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
An anti-death penalty demonstrator paces in an area reserved for protesting outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Chris Farrar stands in the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstrators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Bebe Harton, left, and Sam Shideler, right, hug in the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstrators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Rev. Rick Laude stands in the area reserved for pro-death penalty advocates outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
FILE - This undated photo released by the Tennessee Department of Corrections shows Harold Wayne Nichols in Tennessee. (Tennessee Department of Corrections via the Chattanooga Free Press via AP, File)
