NFL Week 3: Sunday’s biggest winners and losers
By Andrew Garda
WINNER: New York Giants
The relief was palpable in the locker room after the New York Giants beat the Houston Texans 30-17, and can you blame them? At 2-0, people were having flashbacks to 2013.
As I wrote at SportsOnEarth.com (who had me cover the game), the team had spent a lot of time last week trying to avoid putting extra pressure on themselves and it certainly seemed to work.
The offense still looks a tad shaky, and the timing might remain a work-in-progress, but the offensive line did an outstanding job protecting quarterback Eli Manning and opening holes for running back Rashad Jennings (who had a career high 176 yards on the ground).
After an early sack by Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, the line solidified and started rolling.
“Besides that,” Manning told us, “I was held up and we were running, getting five, six, seven yards a pop. A couple of ten-yard runs. That’s when the line is dominating. They were feeling it and excited.”
The defense also played well, despite injuries along the defensive front and the secondary looked sharp.
A big test comes Thursday night, as they head to Washington, DC for a divisional matchup—one which, in a wide-open NFC East, is just as critical to win as the game on Sunday.