Eli Manning threw two touchdown passes and rookie Saquon Barkley ran for another as the New York Giants defeated the Texans 27-22 in a battle of previously winless teams Sunday afternoon in Houston.
Manning completed 25 of 29 passes for 297 yards and threw a 16-yard scoring pass to Rhett Ellison and a 7-yarder to Sterling Shepard. Odell Beckham Jr. caught nine of Manning's passes for 109 yards.
The Giants, who lost to Jacksonville and Dallas to start the season, held the Texans out of the end zone until midway through the fourth quarter.
The Texans lost their home opener after beginning the season with road games against the Patriots and the Titans.
Ka'imi Fairbairn provided all of Houston's first-half scoring with two field goals and kicked a 54-yarder midway through the third quarter to trim New York's lead to 20-9.
The Texans came back as Deshaun Watson threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller, but a two-point conversion pass failed, leaving the Giants with a 20-15 lead with 7:37 left.
Manning put the game away with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Shepard with 2:08 remaining.
Watson and running back Lamar Miller teamed on a 4-yard touchdown with a second remaining. Watson overcame a slow start to complete 24 of 40 passes for 385 yards. Fuller caught five passes for 101 yards.
After the Texans drove to score on Fairbairn's 23-yard on the game's first possession, the Giants scored on Barkley's 15-yard touchdown run to take a 7-3 lead after one quarter.
Aldrick Rosas made field goals of 44 and 30 yards in the second quarter to give New York a 13-3 lead.
Manning threw the 16-yard touchdown pass before Fairbairn made a 28-yard field goal, leaving the Giants with a 20-6 halftime lead.
It was the Texans' third loss by one score or less as the loss to New England was 27-20 and the loss to Tennessee was 20-17.
--Field Level Media
N.Y. Giants | Houston | |
Saquon Barkley | Player | Deshaun Watson |
17 | Attempts | 5 |
82 | Yards | 36 |
4.8 | Avg Yards | 7.2 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
24 | Long | 10 |
N.Y. Giants | Houston | |
Odell Beckham Jr | Player | Will Fuller V |
9 | Receptions | 5 |
109 | Yards | 101 |
12.1 | Avg Yards | 20.2 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
30 | Long | 37 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
N.Y. Giants | 379 | 114 | 265 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3.0 | 1 |
Houston | 427 | 59 | 368 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4.0 | 1 |