What was the good, bad, and ugly from Saturday’s Texans victory?
Saturday was one of those embarrassing efforts that’s good to be on the right side of. I’ll get to more on that later. Suffice it to say, the numbers probably won’t teach us much about the intricacies of winning and losing football. There was clearly one good team on the field on Saturday and there was one awful one. That doesn’t teach us a lot unless you are placing bets on the first overall pick.
However, we don’t necessarily run this feature for the pure one game analysis. If paired with the others we begin to see a clear picture of what traits winning teams have and what traits losing teams have. In the preseason, we also look at individual performances more closely as they tend to have an impact on who will make the final 53-man roster.
The Numbers
Total Yards: Houston Texans 369, New York Giants 279
Rushing Yards: Texans 32/114, Giants 22/74
Passing Yards: Texans 38/255, Giants 38/205
Sacks: Texans 1, Giants 0
Turnovers: Texans 0, Giants 5
Penalties: Texans 9/65, Giants 6/45
Time of Possession: Texans 34:30, Giants 25:30
If you are one of those coaches that likes something to focus on for the next week then you would focus on the penalties as a Texans coach. That is really the only point of improvement that you could really zero in on. It was a 28-10 blowout and it really wasn’t that close. The Texans only played their starters for one quarter. The Giants played their starters the entire first half.
DeMeco Ryans can answer the Texans half of that equation easily. He didn’t need to see more from the starters. Only Brian Daboll can answer the Giants half. Maybe they planned to see more because this is the only game where they would see the starters. Maybe they pivoted when they saw so much failure. Only Daboll knows for sure.
The Good
There was obviously a whole lot of good here, but the Keystone Light Player of the Game was John Metchie. We don’t give away good sponsors during the preseason, but that guy needed a giant effort more than anyone. He turned in six catches for 68 yards and a score. He also caught a ball on the sidelines that was officially not a catch, but just coming up with the errant throw was an impressive feat in itself.
A pair of running backs also made their presence felt late in the game. Yes, you could say it was against backups and third stringers, but Jawhar Jordan and British Brooks looked really good in the third and fourth quarter. In particular, Jordan showed he could be a threat in the passing game. Brooks has a steeper hill to climb to make the roster, but he could be an option as a fullback/running back hybrid. At the very least, he is showing the other 31 teams some good film.
The Bad
As per usual, a few of us on the staff here at BRB came together to watch the game together (virtually of course) and we all came to the same conclusion. Dameon Pierce is not going to be part of this team in September. I don’t know if he will get more opportunities this coming Saturday. It would seem like they need every possible snap to make those key decisions about who is actually going to be on this team. Pierce shouldn’t be one of them.
He followed up a four carry, four yard performance in game two with a four carry and five yard performance this past Saturday. Every other running back did better. We can make excuses like that he was going against the ones while the others weren’t. Maybe if he had a heavier volume of carries he would look better. Maybe if that panel wasn’t out then the sun wouldn’t be in his eyes. You get the idea. Eventually you just come to the realization that it isn’t meant to be.
The Texans find themselves in an interesting position. They are more than $20 million under the salary cap AND they have players like Pierce and Robert Woods that could potentially help other teams but probably don’t fit on this roster. Nick Caserio will do some wheeling and dealing following this final preseason game and it will be interesting to see what the final 53 ends up looking like. Dameon Pierce will not be on it. It doesn’t bring me any joy to say that. Pierce is a good dude who deserves to find a home that will use his talents. It is increasingly likely that it will not be here.
The Ugly
I have never done this before here. Some of that is because the Texans have never been good enough to ignore awful elements of their performance. Some of it is because it usually not my nature to be excessively mean. However, it is time to point this sucker outwards. The Giants are an awful football team. Anyone that openly wondered if they could make the playoffs were either trying really hard to manufacture a conversation or they just don’t understand football.
The Daniel Jones contract increasingly looks like it should come with a laugh track. Rarely do you ever get first guessing (as opposed to second guessing) in sports, but I think most football fans were first guessing that contract. You have to feel for Brian Daboll in this moment. He likely is getting fired after this train wreck of a season and I’m not sure if he can do anything to prevent it. Maybe he lobbied for Jones following 2022. Maybe he didn’t. I don’t follow Giants football religiously, so I couldn’t tell you, but this is a luxury liner post iceberg.
We have seen this in Houston. This is why we aren’t laughing any harder than what we are right now. If we could offer some words of wisdom to Giants fans it would be this. We have been in your shoes. It doesn’t last forever. The key for Giants management is to admit its mistakes and move on. That means either trading or cutting Jones. Sure, it’s a cap hit, but you could be the Denver Broncos. Cap hits certainly hurt and we know that in Houston as well. Trotting out the same guy and hoping for something different hurts more and it hurts longer. It’s time to move on. We wish you the best of luck.