NFL Week 3: New York Giants vs. Houston Texans

Both the New York Giants and the Houston Texans are winless through the first two games of the season. Both teams haven’t looked great either despite coming into the year with big expectations. The Giants are coming off a very bad loss to the Cowboys 20-13 where they simply could not do anything on offense.

The Texans were just embarrassed by the Titans in a game they should have won big. The Texans are vastly underperforming but an easy schedule in the weeks ahead could spell them a little bit of breathing. The Giants schedule is outrageously tough over the next five weeks and it isn’t out of the question they could be 0-7 going into their game against the Redskins. The Texans are favored in this one and open it at -6.

Giants Look Woeful in 2018

With their first-round draft pick, the Giants selected Saquon Barkley out of Penn State. Barkley has been as advertised thus far this year with 134 yards rushing through the first two games. In the season opener, Barkley rushed for 106 yards and the last game against the Cowboys Barkley rushed for just 28 yards but only had 11 carries. Barkley did have 14 receptions last week for 80 yards meaning he still ended up with 29 touches.

The offensive line for the Giants has been the biggest problem this year so far giving Eli Manning almost no time to throw the ball. Last week, Manning was sacked six times and he was forced to keep throwing passes as he was running for his life. Manning has only thrown for one touchdown this year and 503 yards. If Manning has time he has been pretty good this year but there haven’t been many times he has had time to go through his reads.

Houston Looking to Bounce Back

The Texans suffered an embarrassing loss at the hands on the Titans this past weekend 20-17. The defense allowed just 13 points as the other seven came on a fake punt that turned into a touchdown. Coming into the year the defense of the Texans was thought to be very good, and it has been thus far. They are allowing just 3.4 yards a carry and only 225 yards through the air a game.

The Texans have only forced three turnovers this year while turning the ball over twice themselves. Deshaun Watson has had his ups and downs completing only 59.1 percent of his passes so far this year but late in the Titans game it seemed like he has got going a little bit.

The Texans rushing game has been very good rushing for 157.5 yards per game and setting up the pass very well. They have had two close losses and are looking to turn it around in order to make the playoffs this year.

Pick and Prediction

The Giants and the Texans have struggled a ton this year. Both offensive lines have been very bad but they look to hold up for this weekend’s game. The Giants are going to look to shore up some of their offensive woes while the Texans will look to do the same. The Texans defense is much better than the Giants and the Texans pass rush is going to dominate the Giants offensive line.

If the Texans are able to generate any pressure on the Giants then they will easily win the game. But, if the Giants retool their line and make some big changes they could hold up. The Giants are going to need a huge game from Barkley against a team that stops the run pretty well. Houston is going to be amped up to open their season at home and I think they will beat the spread easily and win by a few touchdowns. Take the Texans at -6.