The New York Giants got back on track as they defeated the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon.
This 24-16 victory was a start-to-finish win for Big Blue as they did not trail once in this game. New York came out of the bye week ready and got the job done exactly as expected. With this win, the Giants improve to 7-2 and second in the NFC East.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this win.
Offense: B
New York’s offense totaled a modest 367 yards and scored 24 points in this one-score victory.
There were a lot of positives from the Giants’ offense on the day as they led three touchdown drives of 65-yards or more. Every time that the Texans would tighten the game, Big Blue’s offense answered back keeping the game at a two-score difference for essentially the whole second half.
Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley also bounced back after quiet games in Seattle. Jones totaled 197 yards and two touchdowns through the air with a near-perfect 153.3 passer rating. And Barkley added 160 scrimmage yards while also notching a rushing touchdown of his own.
Overall, the Giants looked more explosive on offense as they broke off several 20-plus yard plays, highlighted by a 54-yard score from Darius Slayton. However, the same problems still bothered the Giants in Week 10.
Other than their scoring drives the Giants barely moved the ball, managing only 150 yards on their nine other non-touchdown drives. Drops from receivers were once again a killer for Big Blue as Kenny Golladay returned from injury just to add two more drops to his season total. And like a broken record, the pass protection continues to need work as the Texans totaled six quarterback hits and three sacks.
Defense: B+
While the Texans’ offense may be one of the worst in the league, the Giants defense got the job done on Sunday.
The defense started the game off perfectly forcing three straight three-and-outs to start the game. They continued this stellar play throughout the first half allowing only three points. Then, when Houston was threatening to make a second-half comeback, the Giants’ defense forced two straight red zone turnovers.
The Giants’ defense saw many players step up in Week 10 but Dexter Lawrence was truly a difference-maker. He recorded five tackles, one pass defended, five quarterback hits, and one sack on Sunday. He also drew a holding penalty which took six points off the board for Houston and brought some pressure on Davis Mills’ red zone interception.
Lawrence has been quietly having a Pro Bowl-caliber season and he adamantly made that known against Houston.
One thing that New York’s defense should look to improve going forward is its play in prevent coverage. In the last five minutes of the game, the Texans totaled 124 yards of offense and six points. A sack or turnover on one of these last two drives would have given the Giants a more comfortable end to this game.
Special Teams: D
The special teams unit once again let the Giants down on Sunday.
The major problem for this department was Jamie Gillan. He averaged a mere 40.3 yards per punt, recorded one touchback, and had a season-low 14-yard punt. Gillan failed to flip the field for New York making the job of the Giants’ defense harder.
Other than Graham Gano, who made all three of his extra points and a 49-yard field goal, the rest of the special teams unit also played sub-par.
Adoree’ Jackson recorded two yards on two punt returns and Gary Brightwell had one kick return for 21 yards. The Texans were also allowed to return one kick for 32 yards and three punts for 17 yards.
Coaching: B+
This new coaching staff once again got the job done on Sunday notching their seventh win in nine attempts. Brian Daboll did exactly what was needed coming off of a bye week as the Giants were ahead the entire game.
Daboll had New York clearly looking like the better team on Sunday which is something not many would have expected coming into the season. This coaching staff has turned around a team that was predicted to be competing for a top-10 pick in the 2023 NFL draft to a team competing for a top wildcard spot.
Individually, the respective coordinators could have done better. Mike Kafka clearly tried to expose the Texans’ run defense and it worked as the Giants totaled 191 yards on the ground. However, New York had too many negative run plays. The playcalling was very uninspiring as the Giants decided to often call vanilla runs on second and long. Kafka needed to get this offense in Texans’ territory more often and finish drives as there were many opportunities for field goals that were blown by poor decision-making.
As for Wink Martindale, the Giants’ defense did attack a struggling Davis Mills, forcing him to throw one interception. He was under constant pressure on the day as he was hit 12 times and sacked four times. However, the Giants’ run defense needs to improve as Dameon Pierce totaled 94 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per attempt.
The rush defense has been a weakness all season and will need to improve as the Giants play the Detroit Lions who have totaled 1,168 rushing yards in nine games this season.
