Here are some things that stood out after a second look at the game:

1. Mental fortitude – The Redskins entered this game after a trying week. A disappointing loss to drop them to 0-2, questions about coaching tactics, rumors of locker-room dissension, a leaked game plan … it all added up to create conditions that would either cause the team to splinter or pull together. The Redskins did the latter.

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They talked all week about the need to remain united and play better. Led by safety DeAngelo Hall, they gathered Saturday night for a players-only meeting. Those type of meetings normally happen at crucial points in the season, and it was only Week 3, but the Redskins indeed found themselves in a desperate situation. They came out Sunday, in a place where they hadn’t won since 2011, and struggled right off the bat. Quinton Dunbar’s mental error, trying to grab the ball on the punt rather than get away from it, gave the Giants life and led to a touchdown shortly after. The offense remained unable to score touchdowns and had to settle for field goals while the Giants kept adding touchdowns of their own and took a 21-9 lead.

This team easily could have wilted. But instead, the players kept battling and pulled off the improbable win. A bad end to the first half (the missed opportunity for a touchdown) could have proved deflating. The injuries in the secondary and on the offensive line could have derailed both units as well. But players stepped up to replace injured starters, coaches made adjustments on the fly, and the Redskins got the win. Players said all week that they felt a sense of urgency, but not panic. They drew on their experiences of past years’ must-win situations, and went out and got the job done. Now, they’ll try to build on this performance and string together some more victories.

2. Depth on display – Scot McCloughan has preached the importance of improving the depth of the roster. He has worked the past two offseasons to do so, and while during the preseason, we saw some evidence of improving depth, based on some of the contributions of players, and some quality players the team cut. But the true test came on Sunday, in the heat of battle, with injuries mounting left and right and others getting plugged into larger roles. A year after the secondary was one of the biggest weaknesses of the defense, the same unit appears much improved. Will Blackmon for DeAngelo Hall at safety, Blackmon for Dashaun Phillips at nickelback, Quinton Dunbar and Greg Toler on the outside for Bashaud Breeland, Duke Ihenacho with time at safety for the first time this season … The contributions came from everywhere.

Normally, four backups at five of the positions in the secondary with the game on the line would be unsettling. But the defense surprisingly didn’t skip a beat. “Man, Scot McCloughan built our team like that,” said Blackmon, who just this offseason made the transition from cornerback to safety. “Everyone is extremely versatile. For example, I played corner, nickel, dime and safety. Me and Dunbar are also former college wide receivers. The list goes on.” Blackmon then joked, “I’m even a returner (on kickoff unit). The Swiss Army knife of the team.”

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The quality of depth also showed through on offense, when Spencer Long moved from left guard (in place of Shawn Lauvao) to center (for Kory Lichtensteiger), left tackle Trent Williams slid inside to guard, and Ty Nsekhe came off the bench to take over at tackle. Washington actually had its best rushing success of the day with this line.

Coaches have said that Williams is so talented that he could play any spot on the line, but he had never taken a snap at guard. He said he was stunned, and a couple times, you could see him split too wide from the center before Nsekhe nudged him over to the right some. Williams laughed at himself recalling that at times, he was still in a tackle’s stance rather than a guard’s stance. But Williams’s strength and athleticism helped mask his unfamiliarity with the interior position. He mauled opponents – taking out two defenders on Jamison Crowder’s 55-yard touchdown on the screen pass – and was solid in pass coverage. Long played well at center. Coaches like Lichtensteiger because of his knowledge and ability to call out protections. But Long appeared to communicate well with his linemates, and he did well both in pass protection and run blocking. It’ll be interesting to see what the Redskins do if Lichtensteiger and Lauvao both miss significant time. Long is the only center/guard on the roster. Would they put Arie Kouandjio in at left guard, and let Williams go back to tackle? Try Nsekhe at guard after he can have a week of preparation?

3. Adjustments on defense – This is the area where Joe Barry received a lot of criticism both from analysts and fans, and from his own players. But on Sunday, we saw the defensive coordinator make a number of changes.

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He scrapped the nose tackle, going with a four-man front exclusively. Chris Baker and Ziggy Hood played defensive tackle, and Ryan Kerrigan, Preston Smith and Trent Murphy rotated as defensive ends. Barry also planned on playing Bashaud Breeland as the nickelback and Greg Toler on the outside. But Breeland got hurt early in the game, so Dashaun Phillips reclaimed his spot there. Quinton Dunbar rotated a lot with Toler, seeing his first action of the season on defense. Barry also changed his safety alignments, starting them in a lot of two-deep looks. This helped take away the threat of the Giants going deep. A number of times, one of the safeties would move closer to the line just before the snap to provide help in the box. We saw Barry call more blitzes on third downs, and he ran his ends on a few more stunts. The Redskins recorded only two sacks, but they got pressure on Eli Manning, forcing him to rush throws.

Another interesting development involved the use of Kerrigan, Smith and Murphy. Kerrigan played 55 of the 67 snaps, Smith played 41 and Murphy played 37. Murphy has seen his playing time go up in the past two weeks. After logging 15 snaps in the season opener, he played 34 (50 percent of the defensive snaps) in Week 2, and then saw that number go up this week. Interestingly enough, Murphy was on the field in some of the most important third-down situations, and Kerrigan was not. Murphy was a non-factor in the preseason, but he suddenly has a team-high three sacks and two forced fumbles. Murphy said after the game that outside linebackers coach Greg Manusky determines the rotations and is working to keep all three rushers fresh.

Lastly, one of most important adjustments made involved going with Su’a Cravens in the clutch, and Cravens’s execution on the game-clinching interception. He said he didn’t expect Eli Manning to throw the ball because of how tightly he was playing Shane Vereen. Cravens called Vereeen one of the best backs out of the backfield in the league. He knew he couldn’t afford to let him get him turned around, so he met him quickly, got his hands on him, watched Manning, and undercut the route. Then he held on to the ball for the interception. The rookie is proving himself as a fast learner with good recognition and instincts to go with his athleticism.

4. Run game commitment – At last, the Redskins got their run game going. It wasn’t a steadfast commitment throughout the game, but Sean McVay definitely did a better job of mixing it in, and doing so with a purpose, early on rather than just going with an obligatory run play here and there and a one-dimensional passing attack.

In the first half, we saw McVay go with run plays on five first downs, five second-down plays, and he called run on back-to-back plays two times. This helped ease pressure on Cousins, and set the Redskins up for better success on the play-action passes. They got away from the run in the third quarter. But then got back to it in the fourth quarter, particularly on the game-winning drive, where eight of the 10 plays were runs. It’s no coincidence Washington wound up winning the time of possession battle 33 minutes 26 seconds to 26:34. And that long, run-heavy drive in the fourth quarter milked six minutes off the clock and put Manning in a more desperate situation.

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Also, the balance set up Cousins for a more effective day. He had his first turnover-free day of the season while completing 21 of 35 passes for 296 yards, two touchdowns and a 106.4 passer rating.

5. Better, but not perfect – Despite the improved showing, this team remains far from “there.”

More tweaking must take place on defense. Even with the four-man fronts, the Redskins had too many missed tackles. They let the Giants rush for 5.7 yards per carry. But that’s the challenge of defending a team that runs so many three-receiver sets to take more defenders out of the box. But, the players up front have to shed blocks and tackle better, and the inside linebackers have to do a better job of tackling. Will Compton is usually very sound in this department, but he had a few misses where he could have made key stops. Cravens struggles at times because of his size disadvantage. He’s 222 pounds going up against guys 75 and 100 pounds heavier. But he just has to continue to work to take better angles and use his speed to his advantage so blockers can’t get their hands on him.

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On offense, Cousins still missed some key throws. He made some tough throws, but needs to get better on third downs. The Redskins still are converting only 39 percent of their third downs for first downs, which ranks in the bottom half of the league. Last year, Cousins was clutch here – particularly late in the season – and Washington finished with a 43.5 percent success rate, which ranked top five in the league. Cousins also has to do better in the red zone, and display greater poise and awareness. That end-of-the-second-quarter situation could have come back to haunt the Redskins. Cousins has to know how much time is left on the clock, and to either hit his open receiver quickly or throw the ball away, stop the clock and save time for either one more shot to the end zone or a field goal.

In another area, penalties remain a problem. The Redskins committed eight for 70 yards. Washington benefited from the Giants having 11 for 128. Again, we saw the offense produce nice gains, only to have the plays come back because of penalties. Or, the defense gave New York new life by drawing flags. No team is going to have a penalty-free game. But the Redskins definitely have situations where they could avoid these momentum-killing transgressions.