The Giants.com crew members give their takeaways from the 27-21 overtime victory in Houston, which sent the team into the bye week on a high note.

John Schmeelk: Understandably, a lot of the focus after the Giants win against the Texans has been on J.J. McCarthy. He made his first start, completed a bunch of explosive passes, and played a fantastic game. With that said, more attention should be paid to the Giants run game.

The Giants ran the ball more than 50% of the time on Sunday and won the game on their lone overtime drive thanks to consecutive runs by Cam Skattebo (42 yards) and Devin Singletary (30 yards). Skattebo had three other runs for ten or more yards, giving the offense five for the game. In the first six weeks of the season, Giants running backs only had 6 total runs of ten yards or more. Those two runs to end the game were also the only Giants runs all season of 20 or more yards.

Those runs don't happen without great blocking from fullback Patrick Ricard, tight ends Isaiah Likely and Chris Manhertz, and wide receiver Malachi Fields. Along with the initial holes created by the offensive line, their blocks on Texans linebackers and defensive backs turned good runs into game-changing ones.

Early in the game, McCarthy's impact on the run game was clear. Even though he never kept the ball on any of the read-option plays, the Texans were aware of the threat and the backside edge player often hesitated before attacking the running back. It helped create another second of time for the runner to find and hit the hole.

The Giants run game was not only explosive, but it was also efficient. According to Sumer Sports, they had a 50 percent running success rate, in no small part because of their success converting short yardage plays with quarterback runs, along with the change-of-pace sweep to Skattebo. But it was the running backs that captured most of the production. They combined for 180 yards on 28 rush attempts, which is 6.4 yards per carry. The efficiency kept the offense productive, and the explosive runs closed the game.

The Giants also went back to their formula from earlier in the season, rolling out bigger personnel at a higher frequency. Ricard was used on just over 50 percent of their plays, but if you include multiple tight end formations, that number jumps to 60 percent. The Giants had the most success running out of 22 personnel with 19 carries for 157 yards, including the final two long runs to seal the game. The Texans refused to drop an extra safety into the box, and the Giants continued to pound them with big personnel.

If the offense can continue to get this kind of production from their running backs, they will consistently score points the remainder of the season.

Dan Salomone: It's not common to win a game with three different starting quarterbacks in a season, let alone within the team's first seven games. Yet here we are thanks to J.J. McCarthy, Jameis Winston and Jaxson Dart.

It is the first such instance in Giants history and just the 21^st time in the NFL since quarterback starts were first tracked in 1950. The Patriots most recently had three different quarterbacks notch a victory in in their first seven games in 2016. New England is also the only team to achieve the feat with four different quarterbacks, which occurred in the 1987 strike season.

The most impressive part is you couldn't tell that was the case in Houston.

McCarthy, less than a month after being traded from Minnesota, made his first start with the Giants look seamless.

"I felt the exact same way," coach John Harbaugh said in his postgame press conference. "I really did. To me, I saw exactly what you saw with that. That was what it was. There were no procedural penalties. We had no issues with the clock running down. We had no formation issues. All the checks were made really well. I thought he did a great job. He's not a guy that's never played before, so he's young, but he's played. And he showed it. He showed it. He made throws. I'm sure he didn't play perfect, but he played a heck of a football game, and he deserves a lot of credit."

McCarthy is now 7-4 as a starter. He has won five in a row dating back to a 31-0 victory over Washington in Week 14 of last season, a game he credits as a turning point in his ability to see NFL defenses.

"He has scars," Harbaugh said. "He's been wounded. He's been broken. He's been battered. But you heal stronger and you become better because of it. So he should be grateful. Okay, I won a National Championship, got a high pick for the Minnesota Vikings, was the guy after they let the veteran quarterback go to Seattle, fought my way through but it ended up not working out for me, got benched, got ridiculed, got traded. Got traded, good. Good on every single one of those counts because it's made me stronger. It's made me who I am if I'm of the character to understand that. That's how life works. That's why I love football as a metaphor for life, for kids watching. That's a lesson for everybody. Failure is not final."

Matt Citak: Similar to some of the positions on the offensive side of the ball, the Giants' defense was challenged by the coaching staff last week. In their first test since, the unit stepped up in a big way. Let's start up front. After surrendering 377 total rushing yards to the Commanders and Saints from Weeks 5-6, the defense limited the Texans to a mere 84 yards on 25 carries, good for an average of just 3.4 yards per carry. DJ Reader continued his strong play that we've seen all season, but the unit got contributions from a variety of players. Bobby Jamison-Travis played 24 snaps and finished as one of the defense's highest-ranked players, according to Pro Football Focus, while Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux both played big roles in limiting Houston on the ground. Speaking of the two edge rushers, both Carter and Thibodeaux were flying around the field in Houston, contributing to the pass rush, run defense and even in coverage against the Texans. Carter is tied for second in the NFL with three offensive holding penalties drawn (accepted penalties only) this season, with all three coming in the last two games.

After C.J. Stroud averaged 286.5 passing yards while completing 73.5 percent of his passes in the previous two games, the fourth-year quarterback completed just 60.7 percent of his passes for 153 yards against the Giants. Deonte Banks had one of the best games of his young career in Houston as he matched up against Nico Collins 14 times. On those plays, Collins was targeted four times, all of which he forced a tight window (1-yard or less of separation), and caught just one pass for four yards. Collins' two receptions on Sunday were his fewest since Week 5 of the 2024 season, while his six total receiving yards was his lowest since Week 13 of his rookie campaign back in 2021. Banks recorded two passes defensed in this game, bringing his season total up to 10 in just five games. He sits only one PD behind Tampa Bay's Jacob Parrish for the most in the NFL.

Not to be forgotten are the linebackers. In his first game since taking over for the injured Tremaine Edmunds, Micah McFadden finished with a team-high 10 solo tackles, along with two tackles for loss and one quarterback hit. Arvell Reese added seven tackles (five solo), a half-sack and one tackle for loss as the rookie linebacker continued the dominant start to his NFL career. Reese now has 54 career total tackles, making him the only Giant since 1994 (when tackles became official) to surpass 50 career tackles in his first seven career games. Both linebackers played key roles in helping the defense limit the Texans to just three conversions on 12 third-down attempts. In fact, through seven weeks, the Giants' defense leads the NFL in three-and-out percentage at 32.9 percent of opponents' drives.