Daboll Reacts to Giants Offensive Line vs. Texans

The New York Giants , sunk by five turnovers, lost their preseason matchup with the Houston Texans by a score of 28-10.

That doesn’t mean the exhibition was without its bright spots.

For one, New York went up against a vastly more talented Houston team armed with a superstar quarterback and three lethal receivers. That first-team unit didn’t score a touchdown. After a couple of interceptions, quarterback Daniel Jones settled in and foreshadowed what the offense may look like, and backup Tommy DeVito continued his push for a second-string spot.

Perhaps the most enticing part of the Giants’ day, postpartum, was how the offensive line played.

It was a point of emphasis for head coach Brian Daboll going into the week.

“One of the plans was to call some play actions, throw a bunch of deep balls today just to see how our line does, let him drop back, feel a little bit of rush when it's live and try to push the ball down the field, which has been a point of emphasis,” Daboll said, via team transcript .

Ultimately, the unit held up pretty well. The starters (except for Jon Runyan Jr.) each played 33 snaps, with depth center Austin Schlottmann seeing a little more time. New York allowed just a single sack – a strip sack of DeVito – and gave Jones the necessary time to attempt several deep throws.

There were also instances in which Jones was able to scan the entire field, readjust, and fire – a luxury that didn’t exist a year ago.

Daball was happy with what he saw.

"I did [think the group played well]. Some of it was action game pass, some of it was just drop back,” Daboll said. “I thought that that first group, again, this is a faster defense. It's a good defensive football team and I don't think we gave up any sacks today until the end and we had a strip sack at the end with [Tommy] DeVito, but, again, I'll go back and we'll go back and watch it all and make corrections and try to get better this week."

Related: Texans Beat Giants 28-10: Jones Returns, First-Team Defense Shines

There’s little use in overreacting. Houston was without star edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., for one. But a glimpse of competence was nice to see, especially with so much time spent on the starters.

Needless to say, New York’s offense has an entirely different outlook if the front five can provide Jones some level of security and not be a liability in 2024.

Saturday was a good step in the right direction.