Giants Sniffing The Playoffs

 

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

 

To a man, the last thing the New York Football Giants wanted to speak about after taking down the Houston Texans Sunday afternoon 24-16 at MetLife Stadium was something they have not been part of since the 2016 season. The playoffs. The win elevated their record to 7-2 and because the Philadelphia Eagles (8-1) lost for the first time Monday night to the Washington Commanders (5-5) 32-21, the Giants are in second place just one game behind Philly. Dallas (6-3) got upset by the Green Bay Packers 31-28 in overtime breaking a 5-game losing streak. The Cowboys sit in third place in the NFC Eastern Division.

 

 

Big Blue was coming off a bye week and had to make a defensive adjustment as safety Xavier McKinney after he fractured fingers on his left hand while riding a ATV during his trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Offensively, New York once again saw quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquan Barkley continue their magical season. Jones threw for 197 yards completing 13 of 17 passes and 2 touchdowns. Barkley was the workhorse rushing 35 times for 152 yards and 1 touchdown. New York took a 7-3 halftime lead with the defense holding the Texans quarterback D Mills (22-37, 319 yards, 1 td, 1 int) in check. 

 

Things got a little tight for the Giants after they went up 14-3 after Jones connected with wide receiver Darius Slayton for a 54-yard touchdown pass. Texans quarterback Davis Mills responded quickly when he found wide receiver Nico Collins cutting the lead to 14-10. The Giants defense only allowed 2 Texan field goals for the rest of the game. Barkley scores from 2-yards out and field goal kicker Graham Gano added 3 more converting a 49-yardstick complete the scoring.    

 

Said first year head coach Brian Daboll, who will certainly get votes for coach of the year, said afterwards “good to get another win. I thought we did a lot of things well.” Prior to the game, reports came out that a contract extension was offered to Barkley. “I know how they feel about me,” said Barkley. “They spoke very highly of me but we weren’t able to get anything done during the bye week. I want my legacy to be in this place and l want to be a Giant for life.”

 

The New York Giants host the Detroit Lions (3-6) Sunday who squeezed by the Chicago Bears (3-7) 31-30. It will be a short week for Big Blue as they travel to Dallas the following Thursday to take on the Cowboys Thanksgiving day. They can’t afford to look past Detroit.

 

The New York Jets (6-3) are coming off a bye week themselves when they travel to New England (5-4) to take on the Patriots Sunday. They fell to the Pats at home last month 22-17 as quarterback Zach Wilson threw 3 interceptions.