After a disappointing loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 8, the New York Giants enter their next matchup against the Houston Texans coming off of their bye week. This is a game the Giants must win if they want to continue to be taken seriously in the NFC.
The Texans enter this contest with a record 1-6-1, so there are absolutely zero excuses for the Giants not to win this one. The Giants hold the advantage at nearly every position on the gridiron.
With how tight the NFC East race is, the Giants must pull through in games like this, especially considering they face the two-win Detroit Lions in Week 11. Regardless, the Giants need to record a victory over Houston in dominant fashion – here are four ways they can do that and improve their record to 7-2.
4. Giants will be focused and get the job done
If the team is anything like the fanbase, they are very unhappy about the Week 8 loss and will be hungry to bounce back against a very weak team. The Texans haven’t won a game in three weeks when they barely beat the Jaguars. This offense/defense doesn’t scare anybody.
After the Giants two upcoming games, they play four divisional matchups in a row, so they really need to have as many wins as possible entering these meetings. While we are not too worried about the Giants games vs. the Commanders, the showdowns vs. the Cowboys and Eagles will be tough matchups like always.
Even with how weak this Texans team is, we could still see the Giants struggle, as they will still be without Evan Neal, Daniel Bellinger, Ben Bredeson, Azeez Ojulari, and now Xavier McKinney after his recent injury.
Regardless, the Giants still have plenty of talent to overcome this poor of a team – they are just going to have to put it all together. In addition to this, Mike Kafka must call a better game offensively.
3. Saquon Barkley will dominate against a league-bottom Texans defense
Entering Week 10, the Texans have arguably the worst rushing defense in the entire NFL, ranking last in rushing yards allowed, fourth-worst in rushing TDs allowed, and third-worst in yards per carry allowed.
In addition to this, the Texans defensive line is extremely weak, with only one defensive lineman having a PFF player grade above a 65: Jerry Hughes. We all know how good Hughes is, so he could cause some problems for the Giants, however, he is primarily a pass-rusher, so the Giants could be able to run around him.
Outside of Hughes, the Giants offensive line should have little-to-no issues handling the Texans defensive line, making for an interesting battle in the trenches. Regardless of if or not the Giants can handle the Texans defensive line, we have seen Saquon Barkley dominate without great play from the offensive line.
Barkley has been making a legitimate case for MVP this season, rushing the ball 163 times for 779 yards and five touchdowns. If he can build upon this season with an extremely dominant performance against the Texans, he could really get the second half of the campaign on the right foot.
We thought Barkley would dominate against the Seahawks last week, but that didn’t really happen. However, this Texans defense is a different kind of bad and the Giants must take advantage of this. Whether it takes a better called game from Kafka, or improved play from the offensive line, something must change this week if Barkley wants to bounce back.
2. The NY Giants pass-rush will step up against a mediocre Texans offensive line
The offensive line of the Texans is not bad by any means, but the Giants defensive line needs to get back on track after a couple of weak performances. In the last two games, NY only has one sack to its name from the guys up front.
Most importantly, Dexter Lawrence should be in line for a great game, as Texans center Scott Quessenberry has allowed a league-high six sacks. Lawrence has been the one of the best defensive lineman in the league this season. The hope is he’ll give Houston all kinds of issues.
As for the rest of the Giants defensive line, we could see another rough game from the team’s edge rushers, as Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard are two very good offensive linemen. However, players like Leonard Williams could put on a show, as Kenyon Green is having an awful rookie season, and A.J Cann’s solid, but not great.
While Tunsil and Howard are both very good, we have seen Kayvon Thibodeaux bring it to some great offensive linemen like David Bakhtiari this season, so nothing is set in stone and Thibodeaux could easily dominate. This will all be something to watch come Sunday.
1. Daniel Jones will get back to form after a tough showing in Seattle
We all know the kind of player Daniel Jones is: he always looks to win no matter what the cost. After his relatively disappointing performance against the Seahawks in Week 8, Jones will likely look to dominate against this weak Texans team.
Jones may not be an elite playmaker, but he has gotten the job done for the Giants almost every game this season. When you consider how poor the offensive personnel is around him, Jones is deserving of more credit than he gets.
While the Texans secondary and overall pass defense is very solid, we have seen Jones dominate against better defenses. The Giants may be without Kadarius Toney, and Bellinger, but it seems as if the offense could be getting Kenny Golladay back. Golladay is motivated to silence his haters.
Another thing for Jones that needs to go right this game is the play-calling from Kafka. While Kafka has certainly done a solid job at running the offense, there are far too many times where it seems as if he does not trust Jones to do his job, especially early in games.
There will be plenty of eyes on Danny Dimes in this one. In order for the G-Men to come away with a win, Jones must play well from start to finish. Something tells us Jones is ready to have another big game, this time in front of the Big Blue faithful at MetLife Stadium.