Game and Series Overview:
The New York Giants head down to Texas again this week to take on the Houston Texans. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. ET
at NRG Stadium. This week’s game marks the fifth regular season meeting between the two teams, with the Giants leading the series, 3-1. A win on Sunday would improve the Giants road series record to 2-1, and would also improve the Giants all-time record vs. AFC opponents to 108-90-1.
Series Meetings: 4
Overall Record: 3-1
Home: 2-0
Away: 1-1
First Game: Texans 16 vs. Giants 14 (11/24/02)
Last Game: Giants 30 vs. Texans 17 (9/21/14)
Game Preview:
The New York Giants are on the plane prepping to have their season on the line against the Houston Texans this Sunday afternoon. This is the second year in a row that the Big Blue goes in to week three looking for answers to questions about their offensive line, the toughness of their defense, and if Eli Manning still is the right Quarterback for this team.
There are some key injuries on the defense that could play into the game as Corner Back Eli Apple and Line Backer Olivier Vernon have both been ruled out of Sundays game. Apple is nursing a groin injury as Vernon is recovering from an ankle injury which saw him get carted off during practice in the preseason.
“Certainly any time your first line players go down, but we’ve got guys that we trust and we’re going to put them in there and we trust that they’re going to go out there and play well.” Said Head Coach Pat Shurmer on Friday when asked about the injuries to both Apple and Vernon. ” I think they have fine receivers, so anybody that we put out there, it’s going to be a challenge, but we’ve got a good plan, we’re confident, and we feel like our guys going to play well. ”
The Houston Texans are a tough team to figure out as they are led by Quarterback Deshawn Watson and defensive all around stand out JJ Watt. The Giants are prepping themselves as the Texans are a more run gun team especially after their games against the Titans and Patriots where Watson was able to use the strength of his legs as well as his arms to move the chains even in defeat.
Safety Landon Collins understands the impact Watson could have on this game.”He’s explosive with this legs, his arms, his vision, escaping the pocket, and giving his guys down field more time to be able to throw the ball, and get open so they can catch it. He has all those techniques. It’s something we have to cover..”
Head Coach Pat Shurmer stated that even though Watson is coming off injury, he is still as dangerous as ever.” I think it’s hard to evaluate a team and a season after two weeks. I really do. The Houston Texans last year, it wasn’t going so well for them, and then at one point there was a stretch where they were lighting up the scoreboard and then he got hurt. I think it’s a little early to draw final conclusions on a team, especially a team like Houston. They’ve got a quarterback, he’s an outstanding player, and he’s got a good arm, he’s got two really good receivers on the outside, he’s got a good running game, and he can get the ball down the field when he chooses to and he can run around a little bit. I’m sure coming back from injury it’s going to take him a little bit of time to get to what he would consider himself to be full strength, but he’s certainly a guy that can play winning football.”
He is not the only Texan the Giants defense has to keep on eye on. Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is still one of the most explosive and dynamic receivers in the league. Janoris Jenkins will have the pleasure of matching up against Hopkins and commented to the media on how to contain the All Pro Receiver. ” I just see he’s got great hands, great route runner, I won’t get into all that top-five and top-ten receivers and stuff. Just play football. ”
Defensive Coordinator James Bettcher spoke with the media about Hopkins on how Jenkins will try and to try and contain DeAndre. ” I was fortunate in Arizona, we had (CB) Patrick (Peterson). You’re fortunate and blessed to be here and have two corners on the perimeter that are really good corners and players. (CB) Eli (Apple), we’ll see about at the end of the week where he’s at. Janoris, he is a special player. He’s one of the best corners in this league, and there’s no question about that. Does he want the deep ball back? Sure, but guess what, plays happen in games. I’ve been around a great corner before that’s given up a play before. So, I don’t have any question about if that matchup happens and they happen to be on each other in this game, they’re going to go compete, and fight, and scrap, and be the player that he is. You just got to be aware of where 10 is. You got to be aware of where he is on the field, and that’s whether Janoris is on him or whether anyone else ends up on him.”
Odell Beckham Jr shared his view on Hopkins as well. “We played against him in the Chik-Fil-A Bowl my sophomore year, I think the year before he was leaving, and Sammie Watkins got hurt on the third play of the game. (Hopkins) went crazy for the rest of the game. I’ve been watching him since college, since he was over there at Clemson, so I love his game. I remember when he was playing, we played him here and he had that catch against Prince down the field and they called it back. Trust me, I’ve been watching him a long time.”
On the Defensive side of the ball for Houston is the ever dangerous JJ Watt who Quarterback Eli Manning stated that Watt is very hard to contain. “Yeah obviously, you got to take care of him. You got to know where he is and it’s not just him. They got a couple of studs on that defensive line who do a good job getting to the quarterback getting sacks. You got to plan different ways to attack it whether you’re doubling or getting the ball out fast, just have a lot of different things, different looks for him, try to slow him down. Again, he’s a good player. He’s going to make some plays, but hopefully it’s not the ones that can change the game too much.”
Manning who was under fire after the 0-2 start with his poor play knows that this is a must win game will staying calm as a leader in this offense. I think obviously there are young guys that are going to be looking at the vets to see how they respond and how they act and guys are coming from college where all of a sudden you lose a game, you lose two games the season’s over where the NFL we’re one game back in the division. It’s a long season, a lot can change and we still got great opportunities to just keep working and just worry about kind of the process and just doing things the right way and things will come around.
We will have a full Game Preview Later tonight
