Finally the New York Football Giants played like the team they should be. Put all three phases of the ball together for the first time in a long time. There’s a glimmer of hope that the 2018 season hasn’t gone to wasteland yet like last years mess. Wouldn’t get overly excited it was against the now 0-3 Texans. Texans aren’t a complete laughing stock with that stout defensive line, one of the best the Giants will go against and right behind the Jaguars. Deshaun Watson in his second year but only 9 starts now under his belt so still very raw. Can’t really put him in a category yet, he’s been very up and down.
Many positives to point out from Sundays game with few negatives, a rarity in Giants Football.
Eli Manning
Eli was even better than the old Eli we all love and know. This quite possibly was a top 3 performance in his entire career. After all the media throwing him in the trash bin, saying the 37 year old is far beyond his days. Well news flash he’s till here and and ready to lead this team; his team. Pinpoint accuracy and beautiful play calling all game. Kept the Texans on their toes and incapable of guessing the plays. What do you know, get Eli some better protection and a run game this is the results we should see. Absolutley abused the Texans using the play action. Every time Eli rolled out he hit an open tight end or receiver on a crossing route for good yardage. An 86% completion percentage against a top half defense of the league. After a struggling week from D’arnold, the media can finally be quiet about the Giants QB and draft decisions. He’s now at 73% on the season for completion percentage, ranking 4th in the league.
Barkley
https://twitter.com/i/status/1043989757783490560
For the 3rd straight game now Saquan was a reliable force. I’m still not sure if he’s been tackled by the first man to reach him yet. Not sure if and how long they’ve been keeping track of making the first man miss but Barkley has to be the record holder to start his career. Great thing about the game was he had multiple chunk yardage runs. Compared to the first week where he just had that long break and last week when he had no where to go. They gave him some space and holes to get too for the first time all season. Block well enough to get him to the second level (linebackers) and teams will be in trouble. Only 5 receptions this week for him, which in my opinion was a good thing. Scared check down Eli isn’t around if that’s the case. He split out wide and made a beautiful grab 20+ yards down the field on the game sealing drive.
Shurmur
https://twitter.com/i/status/1043969113066885120
Kudos to Coach Shurmur for putting together a well executed game plan for his first victory as Giants head coach. At 0-2 they seemed more locked in then ever with no one pouting. Setting up the pass by establishing the run early was very important. Play actions is what really helped them thrive and got the Texans defense to bite on many plays. Finally threw the lackadaisical drive killing Tackle Ereck Flowers on the bench. Didn’t announce it till the early AM on game day. Was like a Christmas present to wake up to for Giants fans. Now Chad Wheeler who’ve we seen before and is average at best did get beat multiple times. Watt went around him 3 times for a sack out of the 4 sacks the Giants given up. That being said he was solid all first half when we were able to jump out to a strong lead that was never surrendered thankfully. Play calling never got conservative in my opinion even though they ended up punting 4 straight times to start the half.
Defense
The defense played very strong again. Been really solid all year and have adopted that bend but don’t break mentality. Giants seem like they love to defend first. Winning each toss this year and electing to go on D for kickoff. First 2 weeks gave up an opening drive touchdown. This week that improved to a field goal. Forced pressure on Watson all afternoon, racking up 3 sacks and many more QB hits. Standout rookies Lorenzo Carter and BJ hill both had a sack. Snacks was a beast yet again. A strong showing by tenured Giant Kerry Wynn. Really set the tone early on with important tackles and pass deflections, always been a high effort player. The best part from their play on Sunday was how they stepped up when the offense started to struggle. After 2 punts to start the second half the defense was able to force a fumble and end zone interception on back to back drives. If they could only get Olivier Vernon back and Eli Apple we can see the true potential of Bettcher 3-4 defense.
Turnovers and Drops
Maybe the most important stat from Sunday is NO TURNOVERS. Should be in position to win any game you don’t turn it over and have a couple takeaways. No near picks which was great. Just the one muffed punt that was thankfully fallen on and Eli had the ball swiped away by Watt, which was also jumped right on. No drops as well. Clean fun football.
Downtherabbitholesports 
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