Afterwards, no one was making excuses. The results spoke for themselves. The Texans had given up 188 rushing yards, including Two plays for 43 and 30 yards in overtime that crushed their hopes of winning three in a row as the Giants prevailed 27-21.
If we thought we saw adversity at 0-4, this takes the pressure to a whole new level. At 2-5, the Texans are at the brink of seeing the season slip away.
The Giants were starting J.J. McCarthy for the first time. And he showed why he was taken number 10 in the draft two years ago. Even though his former team gave up on him, he played very well for his current one, getting the ball out fast, to the tune of 252 yards on 20 for 28 passing.
Despite surrendering some big plays, the Houston defense kept things close enough. But they'll be the first to tell you that they can't give up three huge TD drives, especially the three-play dagger in overtime. McCarthy's accuracy along with Cam Skattebo's bludgeoning runs, spelled doom for the Texans.
Skattebo came into the tilt averaging three-and-a-half yards per carry. He averaged over seven on Sunday. The Texans swarmed on occasion but failed to meet their standard again at home, losing their fourth game at Reliant Stadium.
A couple of bright spots featured Tank Dell making his return after 22 months. A 43-yard grab highlighted the first TD drive and a nifty punt return set up the second. Xavier Hutchinson had three catches, but it felt like more - on a week when he was almost the forgotten wide receiver with all the Tank talk and the home debut of Marvin Harrison Jr., who had his first TD catch as a Texan.
DeMeco Ryans has seen some tough circumstances in his head coaching career but this is his biggest challenge yet. The Texans have rebounded from 2-5 before. In 2015, they rallied from that start to go 9-7 and win the division.
We're all here for the turn-around but it's going to take a herculean effort. The Texans need to mend up and bow up during the bye week. Then it's off to the rest of the schedule. The important thing is that they flat out play better, especially in crunch time. They just haven't made enough moment-of-truth plays to earn a winning record.
There's still time but they're running out of it fast. The bounce back needs to start immediately after the Bye.
