As the preseason continues to dwindle from four games down to three (and possibly two, once the league inevitably goes to an 18 game schedule), and the entire NFL uses various sizes of kid gloves in handling frontline players and even using them at all in games, I try not to read too much into the results of these preseason games.
So when I say the following about the Houston Texans’ 28-10 win over the Giants on Saturday afternoon, know that I am someone who DOES have a hyperbole filter when it comes to the preseason — the New York Giants are going to be an atrocious football team this season.
Aside from a flurry of Malik Nabors’ circus caches in the second quarter, every layer of the Giants’ depth chart was manhandled by the Houston Texans. Their staring quarterback, Daniel Jones, $40 million salary and all, sucks. He threw two picks in six attempts against the Texans’ starting defense, and it should have been three. He blows.
It was mostly good stuff from the Texans on Saturday, but there was definitely stuff to clean up, as well. Let’s get into the winners and losers. Here we go….
WINNERS
4. C.J. Stroud
After two series and a touchdown pass to Tank Dell in the win over the Steelers last week, Stroud looked sharp again in the first quarter of Saturday’s game, going 7-10 for 88 yards. He had another chunk play to Tank Dell nullified by a holding penalty. It’s easy to see how dangerous this offense will look with Stroud pulling the trigger, even with a running game that is still struggling to show signs of life, at least with Dameon Pierce running the ball. I’d expect Joe Mixon to give the run game some juice. The only criticism I’d have for Stroud is the offense bogging down in the red zone on their opening drive, with two incomplete fade passes to Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz leaving me scratching my head on play call and execution. Stroud looks ready to go in Year 2, though.
3. Derek Stingley, Jr.
The only thing holding Stingley back in his first two seasons has been health. He missed half the season in 2022, and missed six games last season. Once he returned in Week 10 last season, he played the remainder of the year at the level the Texans envisioned when they drafted him third overall. On Saturday, in his 14 snaps, Stingley had three passes defended, including this pick:
Like Stroud, I declare Stingley ready for week 1 of the NFL season.
2. Jalen Pitre
Stingley ended up last season with the league very bullish on his future, but the same can’t be said for Pitre, Stingley’s draft classmate, who seemed to regress in his second season in the league last year. Well, DeMeco Ryans and Matt Burke decided to use Pitre this season the same way his coaches at Baylor did when he was Big XII Defensive Player of the Year, using him around the line of scrimmage in a hybrid nickel corner/quasi linebacker role. In his 14 snaps on Saturday, Pitre had a tackle for loss and this pick six off of Daniel Jones:
Like Stroud and Stingley, I declare Pitre ready for Week 1 of the NFL regular season.
1. John Metchie III
This was a huge game for John Metchie III. I don’t know if his status with this team was nearly on the bubble that many of us in the media surmised it may be over the last couple weeks, but the facts are that he had zero impact in either of the first two preseason games, and he had issues with drops in practice. Everyone is rooting for Metchie, who survived cancer to make it back on the field in 2023, so it was awesome to see him catch six balls for 68 yards and a touchdown on Saturday. I had Metchie making the team BEFORE Saturday, even with his uneven performances of late, so obviously he made his case even stronger on Saturday.
LOSERS
4. First half sloppiness
Despite the lopsided win, DeMeco Ryans will have plenty of film to use in meetings this week where can pull out his laser pointer and embarrass a few guys, if he so chooses. (Maybe I’m projecting, as Ryans seems like a teacher who would push positive reinforcement, not shame, like me.) In the first quarter and a two minutes alone, the Texans had a false start on the first play from scrimmage (Blake Fisher), a hold on 3rd and goal from the six (Shaq Mason, offset by Giants’ penalty), a “too many men on the field penalty” on the defense, a hold nullifying a big play to Tank Dell (Brevin Jordan), a delay of game on a punt (not an intentional delay of game), and a neutral zone infraction on 3rd and 2 (Malik Fisher), giving the Giants a first down. Again, LOTS of teachable moments.
3. New York Giants fans
This is PART of what you need to know about the New York Giants in 2024. These are Daniel Jones’ splits from Saturday’s game:
vs Texans first defensive unit: 2-6, 18 yards, 2 INT
vs Texans backups : 9-12, 120 yards
And it should be pointed out that an inordinate number of those 120 yards when Jones was putting up good numbers came from low percentage, largely non-replicable back shoulder fades to Malik Nabors and company. I say all this to say that Giants fans, a group that overlaps greatly with Yankee fans thus making them miserable human beings, will indeed be ready to murder people during the season. And that’s just a shame.
2. Teagan Quitoriano
When the roster gets cut down to 53 players in about a week or so, the guys on the bubble that wind up getting waived (and possibly brought back on the practice squad) will fall into two categories — they’ve either underperformed or they’ve been injured. Quitoriano scored the first touchdown of the preseason and hasn’t been on the field since then, continuing a trend where he’s been banged up for most of his career. The Texans love the three players in front of him on the depth chart (Dalton Schultz, Cade Stover, Brevin Jordan), so they’d have to keep four tight ends on the 53 man roster just to hold onto Quitoriano. My guess is they hope he clears waivers after cutdowns, and they bring him back on the practice squad. It’s too bad, because you can see the physical tools are there. He just can’t stay healthy.
1. Dameon Pierce
Because of his popularity and how poorly 2023 ended for him, Pierce has been at the top of every “Texans player to watch” list since the beginning of camp. If we are looking holistically at Pierce’s preseason, the apex of it has consisted of practices where he APPEARS more confident and decisive than he was last season. Unfortunately, there’s no tackling going on in these practices. The nadir for Pierce has been the two games he’s played in, where he’s totaled 9 yards on 8 carries. It’s just not working for Pierce in games. For whatever reason, he’s in his own head now, and even worse, literally every other running back on the roster was making plays on Saturday. Big plays. Touchdown runs. Chunk plays. Nick Caserio has got to be working the phones this week seeing if there are any takers for Pierce, who is still just a year removed from being nearly a 1,000 yard rusher.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
