Giants Country

New York Giants Hold 7-3 Halftime Lead Over Texans

The Giants hold the halftime lead, but they also made mistakes that likely resulted in points being left off the board.

Patricia Traina

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
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East Rutherford, NJ - The New York Giants hold a 7-3 halftime lead over the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium, but the score should have easily been more lopsided.

After winning the opening coin toss, the Giants deferred, putting the Texans on offense first. However, Houston couldn't get anything going. The Giants stuffed running back Dameon Pierce for a 1-yard loss. Then defensive back Jason Pinnock and defensive lineman Dexter Lawerence II sacked Texans quarterback Davis Mills for a 12-yard loss.

The Giants, mixing up the tempo of their opening drive, marched 68 yards down the field on a 10-play that ended in a 9-yard touchdown catch by tight end Lawerence Cager. The drive featured four plays deploying a heavy personnel group with extra offensive linemen, allowing Saquon Barkley to rush for nine yards in those packages.  

The Giants helped set up the Texans only scoring drive of the first half. On 4th-and-1, Jack Anderson, who declared eligible as part of the Giant jumbo package, was called for a false start, the penalty pushing the ball from the Teans' 36-yard line to the 41-yard line, the Giants having to switch from going for it to punting.

Following Jamie Gillan's punt, which went for a touchback, the Texans finally got on the board in the second quarter on kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn's 38-yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game. Pierce, whom the Giants held to minus-1 yard rushing in the first quarter, rushed for 57 yards on four plays, including a big 44-yard run he managed to get when the Giants gave Lawrence a rest. 

The Giants had another chance to potentially add to their total late in the second quarter, but a series of bad plays, including a sack on 3rd-and-1 that made it 4th-and-23, forced the Giants to punt instead of attempting a long field goal into the wind. 

The punt, by the way, was a poor pooch attempt by Gillan to get it inside the 20. He instead popped it up, and the ball rolled out of bounds at the 26-yard line.  

As expected, the Giants heavily emphasized the running game, often using an extra offensive lineman to help with blocking in the jumbo package against one of the league's worst run defenses coming into Week 9 action. 

New York ran 22 rushing plays and only 12 passing plays in the first half. Barkley had 75 yards on 17 carries while quarterback Daniel Jones completed nine of 12 pass attempts for 106 yards and one touchdown.

Receiver Kenny Golladay, playing in his first game since Week 4 after missing time with a sprained knee, had no receptions on two pass targets, with one bad drop on a 2nd-and-5 that brought a loud round of  jeers from the MetLife Stadium crowd.

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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