Saquon Powers Giants Past Texans, Carry 7-2 Start vs Detroit

Nov 13, 2022; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley (26) celebrates after a touchdown during the third quarter of game against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

NFL: Houston Texans at New York Giants

The new-look New York Giants continue their 2022 season with their seventh victory in nine contests after taking care of the Houston Texans 24-16 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The 7-2 G-Men have been finding different ways to win football games all-season long. This time, it was all about Saquon Barkley as he racked up a career-high 35 carries, rushing for 152 yards and a TD. That was the fourth time that Barkley eclipsed the 150-yard mark in the rushing department. He also added a catch for 8 yards with his lone target, bringing his touch total to 36. Brian DaBoll utilized the rushing game excellently, crediting Barkley’s ability to continuously go for broke. “He had a really good week of practice. We were handing him the ball at the 20 (yard-line) and he was running the ball to the end zone, 80 yards, and then coming back and doing it again. So, I thought that the stuff he did during the week carried over.”

Houston happens to have the worst reputation in the NFL when it comes to rush defense, conceding 181.8 yards per game. The Giants exceeded that amount thanks in large part to Saquon’s excellence, as they finished the day with 191 rushing yards, their fourth-highest mark in 2022. Daniel Jones once again finished second in rushing behind Saquon, but only contributed with 24 yards on 5 tries. Jones’ real impact was through the air as he completed 13 of his 17 passes for 197 yards and 2 TDs. With that, he produced a 153.3 passer rating on the day, which is a numerical measurement used to determine how good or bad a QB performed in a game. Completion %, touchdowns, interceptions, and yards are all factored into the algorithm with a maximum rating of 158.3 that qualifies as a “perfect” game. With that, Jones posted a 153.3 passer rating, the highest that the NFL has seen so far this year. That’s right, Daniel Jones now owns the highest passer rating across the league, which also happens to be a career-high for the Duke product. His first TD was to TE Lawrence Cager, who was elevated from the practice squad prior to the contest with Daniel Bellinger still recovering from an eye injury. Cager commented on Daniel Jones’ afternoon, saying “That’s Danny Dimes for you. He’s great. Daniel, he’s a great person, he’s great leader and he’s a great quarterback. Many more things to come.”

On top of big plays offensively, Wink Martindale once again inserted his defensive schemes to excellence against Houston. Despite a decent day from Davis Mills (319 yards, 1 TD) and from rookie RB Dameon Pierce (17 Rush 94 Yards, 2 Rec 28 Yards), The Giants defense stopped the Texans in the redzone on multiple attempts to salvage the win at the Meadowlands. Lovie Smith had his offense inside the redzone on every single second-half possession. After Darius Slayton ran home a 54-yard TD catch-and-run, Nico Collins answered with a 12-yard TD grab of his own, making it 14-10 G-Men.

The Giants re-took control thanks to Saquon Barkley’s excellence with a 2-yard TD rush in the 3rd, so Houston needed to continue their offensive presence in Giants territory. It looked like Lovie Smith was starting to solve Wink’s plans as they once again marched down the field setting up another opportunity thanks to TE Jordan Akins. After a big 46-yard gain, they gave it to the rookie from the University of Florida, Pierce. He looked strong in the first half, highlighted by a 44-yard gain up the gut in the second quarter. In the second half, the pressure got to him.

Leonard Williams and Kayvon Thibodeaux stopped Dameon Pierce at the NYG 10 with Williams stripping the ball loose, allowing LB Jaylon Smith the ability to recover the fumble. Just like that, New York was given a sigh of relief at the start of the 4th quarter. The trenches were not the only zones active for Big Blue on the day as the secondary got in on the fun on the very next drive. Dane Belton, the fourth-round pick that was tasked with filling in for the injured Xavier McKinney, stepped up when he needed to the most. After Brandin Cooks had a TD nullified thanks to a holding call, Davis Mills threw it into harms way looking for Phillip Dorsett, but was instead met by a flying Belton who intercepted the pass. Another sigh of relief.

Penalties seemed to be the kryptonite for Houston as they missed opportunity after opportunity to keep themselves in the game. Another holding call took away a potential 1st & Goal with 2:35 left after Giants CB Fabian Moreau was called for pass interference. Instead, it remained 3rd down and 8 where Mills missed Nico Collins, forcing Ka’imi Fairbairn to kick the field goal. He then notched in another, but with 7 seconds to go, it was too little too late after a failed onside kick. “You always want to make a play, but when we’re backed up it’s really imperative that you’ve got to make a play right there. You don’t want to give up points, especially with this defense,” said Belton in the locker room after the victory. “Just being able to focus on that throughout the week and being able to come through in the game and holding them to whatever the percentage was big for us and it showed in the final score.”

That score was 24-16 and the Giants are now a 7-2 team. Its their best start since going 8-1 in 2008. The last time that this team has made the playoffs was back in 2016 when they lost 38-13 in the wild card round to a better Green Bay Packers squad. Now, they have the opportunity to get one step closer as they now welcome Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions to MetLife Stadium in week 11.  The Lions are coming off a thrilling 31-30 victory last week, but they did it against the Chicago Bears, a team the Giants took care of earlier in the season. Detroit is also looking for their first 3-game winning streak, which started two weeks ago when they edged the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field. Two crucial divisional wins later, the Lions look like they are waking up. Offensively, they’re putting up 371.2 total yards per game which ranks 6th in the NFL. Goff, a former Los Angeles Ram, is a middle-of-the-pack QB in 2022, however his 15 TDs rank 8th amongst other QBs in the NFL. Their rushing tandem of D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams powers the run as the team averages 129.8 rushing yards per game, which is good enough to be in the top 10. Swift has always been the featured back in Detroit, but because he has been dealing with lingering injuries, it’s become more of a timeshare between him and Williams. If there is one small flaw on this defense, it’s stopping the run. Dameon Pierce just went for 94 yards on 17 tries at the Meadowlands, so it will definitely be a test for Wink Martindale to hold not one, but two prominent running backs.

The good news is that overall, the Detroit Lions defense ranks dead last in the NFL as the only team in the league to concede more than 400 yards per game on average (416.2). A major contributor to that stat is the rushing defense, which has them in the bottom two of the NFL. Saquon Barkley currently ranks second with 931 total rushing yards on 198 carries. If we learned anything about this past weekend, it’s that Saquon is just getting started. This is a golden opportunity for offensive coordinator Mike Kafka to truly unleash his rushing schemes, and after Daniel Jones’ day in the office last week, who’s to say that this offense stalls anytime soon? Brian Daboll continues his mission to make the Giants great again, and with this start to the second half of the season, who’s going to deny that so far?

It’s the Giants and the Lions in week 11 from MetLife Stadium this Sunday at 1:00 pm EST.