The New York Giants' offense was humming Sunday in New Jersey. Really. For much of the time, it felt like they would only be stopped when Houston Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt stopped them himself. (Which he did a number of times.)
By the end of the game, the strong Texans defense rolled over. Rashad Jenningsran the ball down the Texans' throats when the game was still competitive, and Houston offered little resistance in the fourth quarter. Giants offensive lineman Justin Pugh said Watt and the rest of the Texans' defensive line "tapped out" by the end of the game, according to Tom Rock of Newsday.
After the game, Pugh mimicked the questions he heard all week about Watt.
"What's he going to do? How badly is he going to disrupt? How much is he going to hurt you guys?'" Pugh said. "Now you guys are asking the opposite question -- 'Why wasn't he disruptive?' -- and I think that's because we didn't want to hear that and we didn't want to answer those questions."
Watt actually was disruptive. He had a seven tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, a quarterback hit and a pass defensed. But it wasn't enough, especially in the running game. Eli Manning called the offensive line's performance "dominant," and it's hard to disagree. Jennings rushed for 176 yards.
It took a few games, but the Giants' offense is showing steady improvement. New York could continue its run against a banged-up Washington defense on Thursday night in a matchup of one-two squads that look better this season despite their early records.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast recaps all of the Week 3 action and picks the top team in the AFC.
