When the season started nobody thought the New York Giants would be positing itself for playoff football come mid-November.
But that is exactly where Big Blue finds itself as it returns from a bye week this week, at home, against the lowly 1-6-1 Houston Texans. This is always a tricky spot. On one had the Giants were rolling when they entered the bye, and sometimes teams with a week off tend to be slow back out of the gate again. At the same the Giants are in the soft part of their schedule with the Texans and Lions over the next two weeks before heading to Big D to face the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.
In other words the Giants can ill afford a slip up against two bad teams at MetLife Stadium no less. That makes the assignment tougher. The Texans and Lions would love nothing better than to play spoiler in this spot.
While the Giants are still realistically a year away from really being a major threat in the NFC, both Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones have carried this team throughout the first half. Barkley looks like his old self, averaging 4.8 yards per carry, and has 779 yards rushing already this year.
Jones has been incredible. The NFC Offensive Player of the Week in Week 8, Jones has throw for 1,399 yards, six touchdowns and two picks. Moreover, he has been adept runner, averaging 5.7 yards per carry on 64 keepers this year.
What the Giants have to hope for is that continues this week against Houston. The Texans are the worst team in the NFL against the run, allowing on average 180.6 yards per game. Houston is also giving up 22.9 points per game.
Moreover, the Giants will be without Xavier McKinney in the secondary, so rookie Dane Belton will get most of the time back there. Expect Houston to try to challenge him with wide receivers Brandon Cooks and Nico Collins.
Soooo…