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The Giants came out of the bye-week break on Sunday and looked like — the Giants.
The 2022 Giants, that is.
They relied on Saquon Barkley’s massive legs and Daniel Jones’ increasing maturity. They played defense aggressively and often effectively. There were moments when you wondered if the offense could get anything accomplished and other moments when you could envision a bad loss brewing.
The Giants were in control almost all afternoon down on the field but rarely completely in control on the scoreboard at MetLife Stadium.
This is a new team and this is a new season, and the Giants opened up the second half the way they moved through the first half of their season. They did enough to win, beating the lowly Texans 24-16, disposing of an inferior opponent uneasily and yet effectively.
Barkley carried the ball a career-high 35 times to amass 152 yards with a touchdown, as the Giants pounded away at the NFL’s bottom-ranked run defense. Jones was accurate (13 of 17) with the few passes he attempted and tossed touchdowns to tight end Lawrence Cager and wide receiver Darius Slayton.
This was the first time the Giants (7-2) won this season without first falling behind. They trailed in all six of their previous victories. The Texans (1-7-1) lost their fourth consecutive game.
This was another one-score game for the Giants, of course. Eight of their nine games finished up this way. It is the best record after nine games for the Giants since 2008, when they were 8-1 after nine games.
There were more (two) disgusted displays of frustration from coach Brian Daboll in the first half than there were scoring plays (one) from his team as the Giants took a meager 7-3 lead into halftime.
