Giants (2-2) At Texans (3-1): When The Texans Have The Ball

Oct 08 1:38p by Ed Valentine

(Sports Network) - The Texans will be looking to build on recent success, as a win over New York would get Houston to 4-1 for the first time in its now nine-season history, in which the team has surpassed eight wins just once (last year). The Texans have won four of their last five against the NFC and feature an emerging star in Schaub, who’s completed 71.2 percent of his passes for 4,090 yards, 22 TDs and a 107.2 passer rating against the NFC since 2007. It’s his initial career start against the Giants. On the ground, Foster has gone for 100 or more yards in four of his last five games dating back to last season, while backfield mate Ward was a Giant for five seasons between 2004-08 and scored his first touchdown with Houston last week. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry on 12 attempts against the Raiders. Presuming full health, Johnson is an elite pass- catcher and has seven career games with 10 receptions/100 receiving yards against NFC foes. He caught nine passes for 83 yards in one matchup with the Giants.

No question, Schaub will be public enemy No. 1 for a once-again frothing ‘Big Blue’ defense. The nine sacks of Cutler in the first half were an NFL record, with ends Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora accounting for three apiece against the Bears. Not to mention Umenyiora’s two forced fumbles and Tuck’s one. Including playoff games, the Giants have won 13 straight games in which Tuck has registered at least one sack – he has 22 sacks in those games. Joining the Sunday night party, tackle Barry Cofield tied a career-best with 1.5 sacks against Chicago. As a unit, the Giants are now third in the league in total yards allowed per game, but have nonetheless allowed enough points – 18, 38, 29, 3 – in four weeks to be near the bottom of the barrel in that category. In other numbers, Umenyiora is tops among the healthy with four sacks and is equaled only by Mathias Kiwanuka, who’ll miss the game with a neck injury. Elsewhere, Tuck has a team-best 26 tackles to safety Antrel Rolle’s 25.