The New York Giants’ 27-21 overtime win against the Houston Texans was a masterclass in “slow and steady wins the race.”
Led by quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who made his first start for Big Blue, the Giants offense dominated a very good Houston Texans defense, racking up 420 yards and 22 first downs while averaging an impressive 6.5 yards per play.
The Giants running attack, challenged by head coach John Harbaugh to step up, did just that, totaling 188 yards on 34 carries (5.5 yards per carry). And all four of the Giants’ scores came on the ground.
The Giants pulled off an inspiring win, though many thought they were heading into the lion’s den without a chance; instead, they emerged with a win to improve to 4-2-1 and strengthen their hold on first place in the division.
Let’s get into this week’s grades.
Quarterback
J.J. McCarthy
After last week’s scintillating fourth-quarter performance, McCarthy came out as the team’s new starter, slinging it again, though in a much more controlled manner.
To throw the ball into so many tight places and never once put it in danger is mind-boggling, but that’s what this kid has done through five-plus quarters with the Giants.
McCarthy’s first half, while still playing in a new offense, in enemy territory, against one of the league’s best defenses, was close to spectacular. His 9-of-12 first-half throws show he wasn’t throwing it all over the ballyard; he threw it under control, with timing, accuracy, and audacity.
On his third throw of the game, he went up top to Malik Nabers for 42 yards on the throw that truly opened up the field. He then threw another 17 yards to Nabers, 49 yards to Malachi Fields, 29 yards to tight end Thomas Fidone, and another 27 yards to Nabers.
What did all this downfield throwing do? It opened up things for the running game (188 yards total on the day), and they were legit rushing yards with not a single scramble to pad the total.
Why did the Giants run the ball so well against the league’s third-ranked run defense? How did the Giants earn a 35:50-to-26:45 time-of-possession edge and a total net-yard advantage (420 to 237)?
With McCarthy attacking Houston’s vaunted corners downfield early and often, the entire defense had to back off.
The quarterback’s second half wasn’t quite as sharp, but it wasn’t needed. And when it was needed, McCarthy answered the bell.
A favorite throw by McCarthy was the 3rd-and-9 deep out, where he hit Fields in stride to beat a blitz and get the first down, right before Cam Skattebo’s touchdown run took a fourth-quarter lead.
This week wasn’t one of those crazy up-and-down passing affairs that seem to dominate the league. It was a controlled demolition by the Giants, with their quarterback managing the game smartly, making every throw that had to be made, and quarterbacking a running attack that wore down the Texans by game’s end.
When you have a quarterback who can make every throw, and isn’t afraid to try every throw, then you have a chance to open up the defense and win any way you like. McCarthy won Sunday’s game from the pocket, and that’s where we prefer to keep him.
However, he also has the mobility to run an RPO (two this week, both successful handoffs) and scramble away from pressure and hurt the defense with his legs. He truly is a quarterback for the modern game and looks like a real value for the Giants, who gave up a fifth-round pick to get him.
Jameis Winston
Contributing four successful “tush-pushes” (including a touchdown) and one nifty handoff to Cam Skattebo on another fake tush-push that went for 19 yards on a key second-half 4th-and-1 is pretty good production for the team’s backup quarterback.
Also, give credit to the coaches for keeping Winston in the offense and recognizing one thing he does quite well: short-yardage quarterbacking.
Running Backs
Cam Skattebo
It boggled the mind that Skattebo was flagged for unnecessary roughness for lowering his head in traffic and annihilating a safety, who also lowered his head on the play. Incredibly, the officials can throw this flag and yet ignore the scores of defensive players lowering their heads into tackles.
Skattebo’s sin is that he does it so aggressively and finishes his hits with a toughness not often seen from the running back position that it doesn’t seem fair to the defense.
You know what? Too bad. Physicality is what Skattebo does best. You rarely see the NFL write rules that so clearly favor the defense, but this is one of them.
As for Skattebo’s game, it was classic ground-and-pound. He was responsible for three big yardage plays: the 19-yard fake tush-push, the 16-yard fourth-quarter rushing touchdown (his best run of the day, in which he broke and shed at least five tackles on his way into the end zone), and his 42-yard burst in overtime that set up the Giants for the winning score.
The big plays are huge, but the little plays into the teeth of the defense eventually wore the Texans down. It was power running at its purest, a style that Skattebo is built for.
He came up gimpy at the end of that overtime run after tweaking his hamstring, which hopefully will heal over the bye week.
Tyrone Tracy
Also in need of some bye-week R&R, Tracy was forced out of the game late in the second quarter after suffering a hamstring pull that ended his day.
Before that, Tracy made a couple of solid plays with the ball in his hands, the best one a neat cut near the goal line to avoid a tackler and get into the end zone for the team’s opening score.
Tracy’s numbers were modest: 6 carries for 15 yards and 1 catch for 2 yards. He seems to have locked down the third-down role while also serving as a rotation back.
Devin Singletary
With the other two backs suffering in-game injuries, “Mr. Reliable” had to step into the breach and calm everyone down.
Singletary caught 3 balls out of the backfield for 14 yards and had another 41 yards on the ground, the big play being his 30-yard game-winning jaunt around left end to finish things off for the big underdog visiting team.
This veteran always brings an often-needed calming presence to his many younger teammates.
Receivers
Malik Nabers
With him logging his fourth straight 100-plus-yard receiving game, Nabers has become one of this team’s go-to players who always wants the ball in big situations.
We were thrilled early on when he beat single coverage deep and came down with the long ball for a 42-yard punch-in-the-mouth moment to the Texans.
Nabers never quite got deep again, but the threat opened up space for catches of 17 and 27 yards, plus a bunch of short but positive completions.
Nabers finished with 7 catches for 111 yards as he continued to take the league by storm.
He did have a rare drop over the middle on one of those J.J. McCarthy bullet throws, but Nabers’ route-running remains as clean and reliable as it gets.
Malachi Fields
Having his best game as a pro, the hard-blocking rookie (watch his take-out of two Houston defensive backs on the game-winning run) finished with 4 catches for 83 yards.
The big play was a clean down-and-out route: the quarterback got the ball to him right out of his break, with just enough time to shrug off his man.
Fields then took the ball upfield along the sideline for another north-south 20 yards after contact, refusing to go down; he never did go out of bounds. This big chunk play was the offense’s longest of the day (47 yards).
Fields also caught balls for 14 and 20 yards. Though we’re still waiting on those downfield, boundary jump balls that he allegedly specializes in, Fields continues to run clean routes and make his quarterback look good by catching everything that comes his way, including low throws.
It’s so nice to have reliable receivers who actually catch the ball. Fields is also showing some intriguing yards-after-contact running ability that wasn’t previously advertised.
Darnell Mooney
Still struggling to find his way into this offense, Mooney is a player we think the coaches need to force the ball to, as his speed is undeniable.
The problem is that Mooney is so slight that he doesn’t seem able to take a hit.
He was bulldozed on his lone 4-yard catch and failed to come down with a sideline throw when the hit jarred the ball loose. The speed is legit, but the lack of physicality makes him an unreliable target.
The coaches utilized Mooney’s speed once again on an inside handoff to get a short-yardage first down. Mooney’s speed got him the yardage, but he took another big hit.
Jalin Hyatt
In his first game of the year, Hyatt had his number called on a deep fly route; he got open by a step, but the ball was a bit hurried and overthrown.
Hyatt could have laid out for the ball, but he stayed upright and ran the route cleanly and easily, and the chance slipped away.
There’s an opening in this receiver room, but we still have questions about whether Hyatt is ready to take the bull by the horns.
Tight Ends
Isaiah Likely
Right from the start, the Texans threw a ton of resources at Likely and took him out of the Giants’ first-half plans. He finished with just 2 catches for 12 yards on 4 targets and had no tangible effect on the game.
On the plus side, that attention opened opportunities for others, and the offense exploited them, so Likely’s “quiet” game didn’t hurt.
Thomas Fidone II
One of the beneficiaries of Likely’s defensive focus, Fidone ran a neat second-quarter seam pattern that the Texans defense completely ignored.
Fidone caught the ball with his hands extended and just missed crossing the goal line with an athletic stretch-out and leap.
The 31-yard reception was actually Fidone’s first as a pro. He looked natural and smooth throughout.
Expect to see him utilized as a complementary receiver in the coming weeks, as his receiving skills (especially his size/hands combination) are too obvious to ignore.
Fidone’s blocking and movements seemed cleaner on Sunday after last week’s clumsy start to his season.
Chris Manhertz
Getting just a smattering of snaps due in part to Fidone’s emergence, Manhertz was solid with his blocking again at the point of attack vs. in-line defensive ends, as he has been throughout this season.
Patrick Ricard
We saw one miss in Ricard’s production this week, and it cost 3 yards. Otherwise, he was extremely economical with his lead and edge blocks throughout.
After Ricard was limited to just 11 snaps last week, it was smart to see the coaches work hard to get him involved early and often, and to keep him involved.
Offensive Line
Andrew Thomas
Continuing his fight through a groin injury, Thomas started, finished, and played a solid game.
He yielded one inside-rush sack to defensive end Danielle Hunter and perhaps a handful of late-arriving pressures that fortunately did not get home.
His run-blocking had its moments, as there’s nothing cleaner in the pit than watching Thomas de-cleat and completely wall off his man to the inside. That’s what he did on the game-winning touchdown.
Overall, it was another positive performance from a player who should really benefit from the coming bye.
Jermaine Eluemunor
Returning to the starting lineup after missing one game with a calf injury, Eluemunor was in top form going up against perhaps the best edge rusher in the game, defensive end Will Anderson Jr.
Eluemunor kept Anderson completely off the sack and quarterback hit sheet with solid positional backpedals and power punches.
The pressures, when they came, came late as the quarterback got the ball out of his hands on time while the tackles kept the pocket relatively clean.
The veteran had some solid run blocks throughout as the coaches sent him slicing inside at times to change things up.
Jon Runyan
Playing one of his better games of the year, Runyan had pass-blocking that seemed a tick better than in recent weeks.
However, sustaining his run blocks is an issue he hasn’t been able to fix, and sending him on the pull never seems to end well.
Runyan is a blocker who finds himself on the ground a lot, which you don’t want from your O-linemen. Still, he is assignment-clean and a reliable battler.
Francis Mauigoa
One thing about this big rookie is you rarely see him on the ground. That’s because he rarely reaches, with priority one being getting his big body in the way and priority two being keeping himself there.
This week was one of Mauigoa’s better games, which is a good sign after a couple of struggles over the last two weeks.
We didn’t spot any whiffs or misses in either phase of his game. Of Houston’s three sacks, two came on overload blitzes.
Give this rookie positive grades for keeping his head while these overloads keep coming week after week.
Bryan Hudson
Since taking over the starting center role, Hudson hasn’t done anything to hurt his chances of keeping the job. In fact, he seemed to be moving better in space this week than in recent games, and some of his wall-offs completely sealed off the defender.
Hudson may have missed on a couple of those overloads, but he handled most of them well and kept the front of the pocket relatively clean.
His run-blocking was clean again, but he often just shot out to the second level, where he is so efficient.
We’d like to see a more definitive double-team run block from Hudson at times, but he seems to lack the long arms to get there.
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