The New York Giants dropped their second preseason game to the Houston Texans, 28-10, on Saturday afternoon at NRG Stadium thanks, in part, to a multitude of turnovers.
In total, the Giants gave the ball away five times and failed to generate a turnover for themselves (-5 ratio). That’s an impossible scenario for any NFL team and one head coach Brian Daboll lamented after the game.
“Tough to win a game when you turn the ball over five times. Start with that,” Daboll told reporters. “(You) don’t give yourself much of a chance when you turn the ball over. Obviously, it’s something we need to improve on so that’s what we’ll try to do.”
The first turnover came when quarterback Daniel Jones, who was returning after suffering a torn ACL last season, made a poor decision to throw out of his own endzone while being flushed out of the pocket. Rather than throw the ball away, Jones tried to force it, resulting in a pick-6 for the Texans.
Jones tossed a second interception shortly thereafter while attempting to push the ball down the field to wide receiver Jalin Hyatt. Daboll praised that as a good read but a less-than-ideal throw.
“We had a play-action pass, called a little bit of time. He moved to the left and made a poor decision, backed up,” Daboll said of Jones’ first interception before addressing the second. “It was a good read. Stingley made a good play, left it inside on him. It was man-to-man. Hyatt and Stingley with a little bit of a double move on there that turned into a go and I think it left it a little bit inside, on the right-hand side.”
Stingley was stride-for-stride with Hyatt but the one-on-one situation is what the Giants wanted. Jones should have put the ball on his back shoulder but instead, threw it too far inside. It was a far less concerning turnover than the first.
In the second half, the Giants fumbled the ball four times and lost three. Quarterback Tommy DeVito, wide receiver John Jiles, and running back Lorenzo Lingard were the guilty parties.
Jiles’ fumble was the most inexcusable, having it ripped right out of his hands due to the lack of field awareness.
“I don’t think we gave up any sacks today until the end and we had a strip sack at the end with DeVito,” Daboll said.
It was a sloppy performance for the Giants and something they will need to clean up quickly.
