The Houston Texans' home date against the New York Giants for Week 7 is right around the corner.
And it's a game for the Texans that, when looking on paper, could be one that this Houston team has the upper hand in for multiple reasons.
Outside of the fact that the Texans are riding the high of two straight wins against a couple of divisional opponents, there are a select few aspects of this matchup that benefit Houston's chances of landing a big win pretty noticeably.
Whether it be matchup-based, the recent play of some key names on Houston's side, or a combination of both, there's good reason to believe that the Texans will be able to walk out of this weekend and into the bye week having logged a third straight win against this John Harbaugh-led Giants squad.
Let's break down three of the biggest reasons as to why the Texans should be able to beat the Giants in their Week 7 matchup at Reliant Stadium:
Houston's Defense Takes Care of Subpar QB Play
Turn the clock back to the start of the Texans' 2025 season. When sorting through each of Houston's matchups in terms of opposing quarterbacks, there's been a pretty steady trend of this defense getting the best of subpar play under center.
Last season, the Texans ravaged any lackluster quarterback that was sitting on the other side. Snoop Huntley, Mac Jones, Jacoby Brissett, Geno Smith, Riley Leonard, and Cam Ward (twice) were all prime examples of just that in 2025.
This season, Houston's been faced with some tough assignments in terms of those opposing quarterbacks through six weeks. However, they did take care of business against Ward and the Tennessee Titans once more in dominant 26-3 fashion.
Really, the only blip on the radar comes from this season's Week 3 loss vs. Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts. Even then, the Texans' defense forced him to just 211 passing yards and three total turnovers.
Other than that loss, Houston has consistently dominated against signal-callers that aren't at least above-average talents at the position.
Now, take a look at the task Houston has on their hands this weekend: J.J. McCarthy is making his first official start for the Giants after a solid end to last week's game against the New Orleans Saints.
Unless McCarthy has some real magic up his sleeve, the Texans' recent track record tends to hint towards a favorable matchup from their perspective. And if Houston's defense can take advantage of McCarthy for a tough day and force a few mistakes, the road to victory becomes a whole lot easier.
The Giants' Porous Rushing Defense
One clear weakness of the Giants' defense is just how poor their efforts to stop the run have been through the first six weeks of the season.
New York currently sits in the bottom-five of the NFL for rushing yards allowed per game (135.5, and are only one of six teams in the league allowing a positive EPA per rush. The Giants also tie for second-lowest in the league for rushing yards over expected (+139).
Those numbers certainly make for a defense that the Texans can take advantage of in their game plan, even without the help of their starting veteran running back, David Montgomery, who's due to be sidelined for a second straight game due to a groin injury.
Now, let's state the obvious here: the Texans aren't a very good rushing offense. They're currently in the bottom 10 in the NFL for rushing yards per game (84.8) and are in the bottom four in the NFL for rushing success rate (34.5%).
However, the past two weeks of the Texans' production on the ground has been the best we've seen all season behind the lead of Woody Marks. He's averaging nearly four yards per carry while taking a hold of at least 15 carries a game, and has added a sense of playmaking and explosiveness that wasn't quite as noticeable when he was splitting touches with his veteran counterpart.
So knowing that Marks is set to take the lead role again in the Texans backfield against what could be their softest matchup of the year so far in terms of rushing defenses, there's little reason to believe he can't keep his recent momentum going for one more strong performance before the bye.
And if the Texans' run game is flowing, in addition to their rising passing offense and star-studded defense, the Giants quickly have a lot of challenges on their hands to take on if they want to defy the odds for a statement win on the road.
C.J. Stroud's on an MVP-Level Run
On top of the Texans' advantageous matchups in terms of opposing quarterback play and the Giants' run game, C.J. Stroud and this Houston passing offense have proven that they're catching their stride after a few weeks of bumps and bruises to start the season off.
He's limiting mistakes in a major way having recorded just one interception through six games, he hitting his highest completion percentage (65.3) and yards per game (285.7) of his career, and he's shown no signs of slowing down after last week's outing in London where he recorded over 300 passing yards with three touchdowns.
It's gotten to the point that Stroud is starting to sneak into some MVP-level play. And in this game, Stroud will have his arsenal of pass-catchers looking the deepest and healthiest it's been all season. That tends to make his chances of another big day look even better.
Now, the Giants' passing defense isn't anything to be overlooked, and they could make Stroud's job of extending his high-end play a bit easier said than done. New York is currently one of six teams in the NFL to allow less than 200 passing yards per game.
However, New York has consistently struggled to get pressure on the quarterback as well, currently tied for the second-lowest sack total (8) in the NFL through six weeks.
Stroud is going to have a lot of time in the pocket, and he's got the playmakers around him to move the chains. And when those two aspects of Stroud's supporting cast are in check, he tends to look a whole lot better individually as a result.
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