Giants at Texans, Week 3: First look at Sunday’s matchup of 0-2 teams

0-2 is not how the New York Giants and Houston Texans, both teams that have hopes of being playoff contenders this season after difficult 2017 seasons, hoped to start the 2018 NFL season. It is, however, the reality. Houston open the week heavily favored to be the team that gets its first victory on Sunday at NRG Stadium.

Let’s take our first look at Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET matchup.

By the numbers

0.80 — That’s how many rushing yards Giants running backs are getting before contact. That’s the worst in the league by a wide margin.

117 — That’s how many yards after contact Saquon Barkley, Wayne Gallman and Jonathan Stewart have gained in two games, fifth-most in the league.

119.9 — The passer rating for Eli Manning on third down after two games. That, of course, is when he hasn’t been buried beneath the pass rush.

8 — That’s how many times Manning has been sacked thus far. That puts him on pace for 64, which would be the fourth-most all time. The most times Manning has been sacked in a season was 39, in 2013, when the Giants started 0-6. He was sacked 31 times last season.

14 — That’s how many pass receptions Saquon Barkley has last week. That’s a Giants franchise record, NFL rookie and third-most all-time for a running back in a single game. Here is a look at the top single games receiving by NFL running backs:

0 — The combined total of sacks and takeaways the Giants had Sunday vs. Dallas. The Giants, per the team’s PR department, are 2-21 since 1990 when that happens.

300 — The number of rushing attempts by Manning in his career. He has only 546 yards to show for those.

34 — The number of games the Giants have gone without scoring 30 points. The last time they did so was Jan. 3, 2016 in a 35-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. That was Tom Coughlin’s final game, and Pat Shurmur’s only game as Eagles interim head coach. The streak is the longest for the franchise since the Giants went 57 consecutive games without scoring at least 30 points from 1975-79.

32 — Where the Giants offense ranks after two games in yardage per play gained on first down.

343 — Manning (340) needs three touchdown passes to surpass Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton for seventh-most touchdown passes all-time.

89.6 — That’s the highest Week 2 Pro Football Focus grade awarded to any Giant.

About the Texans

Houston went 4-12 last season, a year that went up in smoke when then-rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson blew out his knee in practice. The Texans were 3-3 in games Watson started last year, but only 1-9 in their other games.

This season, the Texans have opened the year with losses to the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans. Texans fans are already speculating about/calling for the firing of head coach Bill O’Brien, who is in his fifth season as the team’s head coach.

The week ahead

Stick with Big Blue View for all your coverage leading up to Sunday’s game. We will have offensive and defensive previews, a look at things to watch, a breakdown of Eli Manning from Mark Schofield, and much more.

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