Giants-Texans: 5 key plays in New York’s victory over Houston

The New York Giants shocked the Houston Texans on Sunday in J.J. McCarthy’s first start with John Harbaugh. New York controlled the game on offense and defense, defeating the Texans, 27-21 in overtime. 

Dennard Wilson’s defense held the high-powered passing attack 153 yards through the air, as Houston gained just 237 total yards. Tae Banks shut down Nico Collins, Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud looked uncomfortable, and D.J. Reader continued to be a strong asset for the Giants both as a run defender and a pass rusher.

The Giants’ offense incorporated a lot of PISTOL concepts and zone-read runs that helped to open up the rushing attack. McCarthy’s two 40+ yard passing plays in the first quarter helped to soften the box, as did the threat of his legs on read plays.

New York gained 420 yards on offense. McCarthy threw for 252 yards, and, most notably, the rushing attack got going for 188 yards on the ground with an average of 5.5 yards per carry.

Houston ranked third in the league in run defense prior to the game, and the Giants were 19th in rushing with three straight poor performances. The return of Jermaine Eleumunor certainly helped, but the Giants – in general – deserve a lot of credit for this complete effort, other than the poor kicking by Dominic Zvada. Here are five plays, or five sequences of plays, that were impactful in the game.

Play(s) 1: Final two plays of the game

The Giants have been bad at running the football over the last few games. The running backs were publicly called out by John Harbaugh, and Cam Skattebo played six snaps against the Saints. Skattebo responded, rushing for 124 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. The vindication of the overall running game was best represented by the final two plays of overtime:

Skattebo rushed for 42 yards on the second play of overtime, which set up Devin Singletary’s 30-yard touchdown run to match the Giants’ win total from last season. New York now has confidence heading into a much-needed bye week. 

Play(s) 2: End of the first half

The Giants were ahead by points with 3:32 left in the first half and Stroud marched down the field 90 yards to find Marvin Harrison Jr. for a touchdown, along with a two-point conversion on a shovel pass to Cade Stover:

Arguably, the most significant play of the drive was a 43-yard catch and run to Tank Dell (welcome back). The ball didn’t even appear intended for Dell, but it was significant for Houston. 

Dru Phillips and Ar’Darius Washington were flagged to help extend the drive; the flags totaled for 32 yards. I love that Harbaugh called his timeouts to give the Giants an opportunity to score points in the waning seconds of the half. It’s great to see the Giants have confidence in McCarthy in that situation. McCarthy connected with Malik Nabers for 27 yards, which put the Giants in field goal range. 

It was excellent coaching by the Giants, but, unfortunately, rookie kicker Dominic Zvada missed the 44-yard field goal and the half ended in a tie. New York dominated this game but it still ended in overtime – Zvada’s struggles were a big reason why. 

Play(s) 3: Excellent start

The Giants had an excellent opening drive that resulted in a nine-play, 66-yard touchdown drive that included a few quality runs, a fourth-down conversion, and a 42-yard completion to Malik Nabers. McCarthy’s athletic ability kept the edge rusher honest and allowed Tyrone Tracy Jr. to hit the hole for a touchdown. 

New York needed a quick start on the road with a young new quarterback and they received exactly that. The defense responded with two early three-and-outs, a few pressures for Abdul Carter in the first three drives, and they dictated with a zone based defense, while also forcing several penalties on the Texans’ offense. 

Play(s) 4: Welcome back, Cam Skattebo!

The Giants went on a 14-play, 80-yard drive that ended in a 16-yard touchdown run by Skattebo:

Skattebo received six snaps in last week’s loss and, by all accounts, he responded excellently in practice. McCarthy ran the Matt Nagy offense well. His third-and-9 conversion to Malachi Fields set up Skattebo’s touchdown. McCarthy delivered an impressively placed out route. The Giants also converted a third-and-1 earlier in the drive to Skattebo on a fake tush-push with Jameis Winston in the game:

Play(s) 5: The struggles of Dominic Zvada 

The Giants rookie kicker missed a 56-yard field goal that would have given the Giants a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter. After that, John Harbaugh used his timeouts excellently to end the first half. McCarthy completed a 27-yard pass to Nabers with 29 seconds left in the half, putting the Giants in a position to go up three at halftime.

Zvada lined up for a 44-yard field goal in a dome and sent it wide right. The Giants forgoed a field-goal attempt later in the game, resulting in 23 yards of difference after punting the football to the 14-yard line. Luckily, the defense was stellar in the game, and they forced one of their many three and outs.

These struggles are noteworthy, of course, and they almost led the Giants to a devastating loss; Giant fans know too well how those situations can go. Still, Harbaugh gave Zvada a vote of confidence after the game, but it remains a situation worth monitoring.