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The Giants beat the Texans for their first victory on Sunday, and may have saved their season. Aw, hell. This one calls out some exclamation points. The offense did not seem to be even trying to kill Eli Manning! Manning played really well! Odell Beckham Jr. looked like Odell Beckham Jr. and a good amount of credit goes to Saquon Barkley, and how the Giants used it.
After the Giants drafted Barkley with choice number 2, the thought (hope) was that they would get him to participate in the match. This happened in the first two games of the season, when Barkley was targeted 22 times, including 16 at Week 2 against the Cowboys. But much of this was born out of necessity, with screens and controls on rooms in which Barkley was lining up in the backfield. What changed on Sunday was Pat Shurmur's willingness to line Barkley, which created favorable imbalances that benefited some of the team's other passers, and allowed Barkley to play. .
Namely: in his first two games, Barkley lined up on the slot or was eliminated on only 7.3% and 5.2% of his shots, by Pro Football Focus. But against the Texans, Barkley was largely behind 11.4% of the time. He did this on five of his 44 shots, and even though Barkley was only targeted once as he lined up, the Giants did good things on four of those five games.
The first arrived on the first possession of the Giants, which ended with a touchdown. Barkley started the separation game on the right (top of the screen), with Beckham in the slot, where he found himself facing linebacker Zach Cunningham. It was a second and tenth place six yards, helping the Giants to a third place. They were in the final zone two games later.
In the second quarter, in the second and ninth, the Giants still played with an empty set and five pass sensors, while Barkley was split on the right. He ran a course that cleared the middle for Sterling Shepard, who had 17 yards here:
About a minute later, on the same road, the Giants extended their lead to 20-3 over a 16-yard manning pass to tight winger Rhett Ellison. Similarly, they used an empty set and distributed the field with five catchers; this involved including Barkley again right, with Ellison in the slot on his side. Barkley again ran a route that took his man away from the middle of the field. Ellison, against LB Cunningham in the cover, ran a mere lean post. As soon as he stepped on Cunningham, Manning passed him the ball just before the pocket collapsed around him. Landing:
Finally, there was the big game of Barkley. Hooking a 20-15 lead, the Giants faced a third and second of 27 Texans with about four minutes to play. A goal on the pitch would still give the Texans a chance to score. This time, the Giants went four times, with Barkley right again, where he was paired to Cunningham alone. Barkley ran another route, and Manning immediately set it up. Barkley was able to both jump for the ball and use his body to protect Cunningham. It was a crucial first decision, and shortly thereafter, the Giants scored another touchdown to greet the match.
For the season, the Giants have an average of 4.09 yards per game when they pass first, against just 2.63 yards per game, according to the GSIS NIS database. And Sunday, they were aggressive in the first run, with Manning 10 for 13 passes for 115 yards and a TD.
The Giants also used John Greco in the middle and replaced right tackle Ereck Flowers with Chad Wheeler. Their offensive was not perfect and Manning was still sacked four times. But it was only pressured on nine of its delays (27.2%), which is a substantial improvement over the pressure found in weeks 1 and 2 (34.1%) by PFF. But by getting Barkley out of the way at a glance, they at least gave a glimpse of what this offense might be able to do.
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