HOUSTON — They came, they saw, they conquered.
Or something like that.
Hanging on for dear life is not an ideal way to save a season, but the Giants will take anything they can get. They put fears of their demise on ice for at least a week, building a 20-3 lead, then watched as most of it slipped away. When they needed to get more points and settle things down Sunday afternoon inside NRG Stadium, they received some vintage play from Eli Manning, exhaled and secured a 27-22 victory to finally get win No. 1 three weeks into Pat Shurmur’s coaching tenure.
Manning drilled a 7-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard with 2:08 left to seal the deal, putting the Giants ahead 27-15. The Texans scored with one second remaining to pull closer but not close enough.
The 37-year-old Manning was unflappable as he completed 25-of-29 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked four times behind an offensive line that included Chad Wheeler as the starting right tackle, replacing Ereck Flowers, who was benched. Wheeler competed well early but eventually gave up three sacks to J.J. Watt.
The Giants got to 1-2 the hard way. The Texans fell to 0-3.
Saquon Barkley had 17 rushing attempts for 82 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown scamper in the first quarter.
The Giants’ lead was trimmed to 20-15 when Deshaun Watson hit Will Fuller on a 6-yard touchdown pass with 7:37 remaining. The two-point conversion flip to Lamar Miller was stopped short, but the Texans had all the momentum. That is when the Giants came up with the game-clinching drive.
The momentum build-up within a 20-3 Giants lead was shifting, and the Texans were within 20-9 and driving when Kerry Wynn forced a fumble by Miller that Donte Deayon recovered on the Giants’ 25-yard line. The turnover did not provide a boost, as Watt beat Wheeler to the inside for a 10-yard sack of Manning.
Back came the Texans again, but once more the Giants defense rose up. This time, a sack by rookie B.J Hill — who abused rookie left tackle Martinas Rankin — was followed by another near-sack, but Watson wriggled out of danger. He had plenty of room to run but instead decided to lob a pass into the end zone, looking for Miller. Linebacker Alec Ogletree was there and leaped for an interception early in the fourth quarter.
Dumping Flowers is a move Giants fans have been waiting for with bated breath. Who knows how much of a spark the move triggered, but the offense looked different from the get-go with Wheeler on the field. The Giants were smart about this. On their first play, two tight ends, Rhett Ellison and Evan Engram, were positioned next to Wheeler, directly opposite Watt. Later, Ellison was asked to block Watt without any help.
The feel-good story did not last long. Watt came into the game looking for his first sack and ended up with three. Wheeler did what he could in the first half but could not keep Watt off Manning after halftime.
Whether it was Wheeler or it was the desperation factor kicking in, the offense clicked early. Manning moved easily within the pocket, had time to set his feet and scan the field and the results were exactly what the Giants needed. He was 12-of-14 for 175 yards and one touchdown in a near-perfect first half. Manning appeared to miss Odell Beckham Jr. wide open down the field when he looked to an intermediate route and hit Shepard for 18 yards.
Barkley scored on a 15-yard run, a play on which most running backs do not find the end zone. It was a middle run, and he squeezed through the traffic, helped along when Wheeler sealed off defensive end Christian Covington. Barkley did the rest, coasting past diving safety Kareem Jackson. Nearly 131 minutes into the season, the Giants had their first lead of 2018, pulling ahead 7-3.
Barkley did his thing despite a knee bruise suffered on his first rushing attempt, a 2-yard gain, as he was hit on his leg and got up slowly. He was not on the field for the next series, with Wayne Gallman and Jonathan Stewart filling in.
A taunting penalty on Shepard stalled a drive that ended with an Aldrick Rosas field goal and a strip-sack by Watt — who cleanly beat Wheeler off the line, although Wheeler thought Watt jumped too early — forcing Manning to fall on his own fumble and sending Rosas in for a 30-yard field goal for a 13-3 lead. The Giants got the ball back with 3:16 left in the first half and executed a flawless 71-yard drive, capped by Manning’s pinpoint pass to Ellison, who beat linebacker Zach Cunningham for a 16-yard touchdown to boost the Giants lead to 20-3.
The Giants on defense had trouble getting their bearing as the Texans came out in a no-huddle attack but stiffened after the Texans had a first-and-goal on the 5-yard line. When Will Fuller’s catch in the end zone against B.W. Webb — starting for injured Eli Apple — was ruled out of bounds, the Giants were down only 3-0 after a Texans field goal. After that, there was little the Texans accomplished, although they did put together a late scoring drive to pull within 20-6 at halftime.