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Just when the Houston Texans offense thought it had finally found its stride, the New York Giants defense showed up.
Big Blue held the Texans to just 153 passing yards in their Week 7 game, their lowest allowed by the Giants defense this season.
A big reason was the stellar play of the defensive secondary, especially cornerback Deonte Banks, who is having a banner year.
Banks wasn’t alone. Linebacker Abdul Carter was a pesky presence in the pass rush, and Micah McFadden took up Tremaine Edmunds’ mantle as a tracking machine, leading the team with 10 tackles (all solo).
It wasn’t a perfect showing, but it was a lot better than the week before, with the defense stepping up to answer defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson’s challenge to play better. And the unit certainly did.
Let’s dive into the player-by-player grades for the defense and for special teams.
The gap in effectiveness between Reader and his D-line mates seems to be widening by the week.
Reader wasn’t only the pit’s best run defender Sunday; he was easily the interior’s best pass rusher, with a handful of quick moves around his man that hurried the quarterback into quicker decisions.
One of Reader’s inside wins turned into a hit on the quarterback and forced a big fourth-quarter incompletion.
Reader pitched in with 2 more tackles, holding his turf as well as we’ve seen any nose tackle do, or at least since Dexter Lawrence’s heyday with the team.
Active again after sitting out last week, Okoye received some rotation snaps inside and flashed on one run play, but otherwise he was pushed around and was slow to react.
Getting another start at defensive end, the veteran Harris made a couple of flash moves attacking the gap, but he remained ineffective holding his ground at the point of attack.
Harris earned one of the defense’s few hits on the quarterback when he shot up the gap, and he contributed 2 tackles on run downs.
Falling back into his non-factor shell against the run, Alexander got credit for a half-sack when he helped chase a scrambling quarterback out of bounds for no gain.
Alexander then chirped at the quarterback as if he’d made a play, which was hardly an athletic football play. He did manage to work his way into a run-game tackle, but he remains a big body with a lack of feel for D-line play.
One of the few D-line highlights was this rookie's active role.
Jamison-Travis looks like a keeper, holding his point of attack against double teams more stoutly than most.
He also has shown enough mobility to get into plays on the edge, which is where most nose tackles fear to tread. The kid finished with 3 total tackles and showed up around some other piles, too.
The leader of the front seven continues to disrupt things around the edges at a high rate.
He drew two holding calls, and there should have been two more, his biggest coming in overtime on third down, when he flew around the edge.
Though he didn’t finish any sacks, he was once again a major disruptive force on a front group that is sorely lacking them.
Carter finished with 4 total tackles, continuing to contribute against the run and short edge coverage in the flat in pursuit, but when he attacks the line of scrimmage, you really ought to lean forward and enjoy the show.
He was electric out there once again.
The polar opposite of Carter on the edge, Thibodeaux has settled into a power defensive end role with very little attack mobility in his arsenal.
His pass rushes were the bull-rush variety, but he lacks the power to beat his man.
He also lacks the foot speed to make any plays in space. He dropped a “sure” interception in overtime on a drop back into zone coverage, the ball hitting him right in the hands. For some reason, he started to run with the ball before securing it.
The one thing he does well these days is hold his edge with power against the run and close down in pursuit when unblocked.
Thibodeaux did this well enough to earn 4 total tackles against the run. Against the pass, he was a non-factor.
Getting plenty of edge snaps, Ford played with effort but only got in on 1 tackle.
Against double teams of tight ends on several occasions, he was easily swallowed up and lost his edge.
His pass rush game has petered off, though he did draw a holding penalty on an edge play.
Getting a handful of snaps on the edge as a power contain guy, Harrison held his ground firmly and kept everything inside of him, where it belonged.
Continuing his march to the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, Reese added 7 more tackles, including a half-sack, a tackle against a screen pass for a loss of 4 yards, and a handful of definitive finishes on plays that seemed like threats until Reese arrived and ended them. He also drew a holding penalty on a tight end he overpowered in his block attempt. He is such an enforcer.
Reese also just missed a sack after beating his man on an inside blitz. He is particularly dangerous on these blitzes because he can beat his blocker with speed, power, or both.
The defense’s surprise leading tackler was McFadden, who stepped up after Tremaine Edmunds finished for the season.
McFadden’s 10 solo tackles included 2 in the backfield, one of which came close to a forced fumble and return for a touchdown, as McFadden’s hit bent the RB over.
McFadden’s quick reads were on point all over the place. If he can teach Reese the secret of his quick reads, then Reese may have to be outlawed.
For McFadden to be so effective despite his size, short arms, and mediocre speed and athleticism, it goes to show how far you can go with a lightning-fast processing chip in your brain.
McFadden gave up plays in coverage because he can’t make those plays. The miss in the back of the end zone for a Houston touchdown was one of them. But his on-point control of cutbacks and reads was sharp throughout.
McFadden also factored into the blitz, drawing a hold on one of them and recording a quarterback hit on another (on Houston’s last offensive snap in OT).
Talk about depth: the defense just lost its play-caller, Edmunds; his replacement steps in, and the defense plays its best game of the year.
Playing his best game of the year (which is saying something, since he’s excelled from the get-go), Banks took Houston’s leading receiver, Nico Collins, with his three successive 1,000-yard seasons, put him in his back pocket, and kept him there for the duration.
Collins finished with 2 catches for 6 yards, and one of those catches wasn’t even against Banks. Suffice it to say that Banks continues to play the best football of his career in coverage.
He also added 2 tackles and 2 passes defensed. He’s even showing up for his contain on the edge and not flinching away from contact (baby steps).
Banks is a strange one. He shows great courage returning kicks, yet has long shied away from contact on defense.
Regardless, he’s playing top-shelf press coverage right now, and it’s a perfect fit in this defense.
This hard-tackling slot cornerback kept getting isolated in coverage, and it resulted in two flags: one for holding (a very iffy call) and one legit pass interference for grabbing his man’s hand while in trail technique.
If he continues to be a liability in coverage, the coaches will have no choice but to get him off the field on passing downs.
His blitzes came up empty, and he wasn’t around the ball often enough to record more than his one lone tackle.
The return of this veteran boundary corner helped make up for the absence of Greg Newsome II (concussion). With Adebo back in the fold, Phillips should lose significant playing time.
Adebo’s coverage was sharp and deep most of the day. He has an aversion to getting beat deep, so he usually and willingly gives up the short stuff. That didn’t happen Sunday.
It will be interesting to watch how this veteran settles into a defensive backs group that has excelled playing an aggressive style. That doesn’t seem to fit Adebo’s style much, but his length and long speed are legit factors in his game.
He pitched in with 2 tackles, and though he’s not a heavy hitter by any means, Adebo has never shied away from a hit.
Washington started at safety and played most every snap. His aggressive style got him into a ton of action, from which he emerged with a healthy 7 total tackles.
Though undersized physically, Washington’s heart and courage are anything but.
We spotted him several times slicing into the action on short-yardage plays, showing zero hesitation to mix it up with the big boys. He made a great red zone stop when his run blitz found the running back for no gain.
Washington misses very few tackles because he is so quick to seize situations. He is Dru Phillips without the grabbing tendencies. In fact, he is right now what Phillips may eventually become: an attack safety.
Playing mostly deep coverage, given Washington’s forward-moving proclivities, Pinnock had a solid cover game in space that helped hold Houston to just 153 passing yards.
Houston’s longest pass was a 43-yarder off a deflection. Pinnock gave up the next-longest completion, a 25-yarder, when he was isolated in deep press.
Otherwise, he was all over the place, holding things together while his young mates continued on their learning curve with bullets flying.
With Jevon Holland inactive but expected back soon, Pinnock was Sunday’s secondary leader.
When Holland returns, we envision Pinnock taking over the starting job alongside him.
Pinnock nearly got home on a couple of blitzes and contributed 3 solo tackles and 1 pass defensed to round out a solid day.
The rookie’s two long field-goal misses both went wide right, as did his three long misses at Washington several weeks ago.
Judging from the tape, we suspect the rookie is reacting to pressure to his left; whether peripherally or instinctually, he feels the rush from that direction and pushes the ball away from it.
Each of his three extra points came from the left hash, which is apparently where he feels more comfortable kicking. It might be wise for the coaches to set up his long field-goal attempts at the left hash.
Zvada had several great kickoffs, pinning the returner in each opposite corner. One return was stopped dead thanks to the great direction, but the other great kickoff lost its containment and allowed a return out near the 40.
Zvada’s final kickoff came in overtime and went into the end zone for a touchback. We suspect this was a coaching decision: the coverage team at the end of the game might be tired, so the threat of a big return is too dangerous; ergo, the team gladly conceded the 37-yard line but nothing more.
Stout punted 4 times for a 49.8 gross but a disappointing 38.5 net, thanks to a touchback, a 23-yard pooch punt fair-caught at the 11-yard line, and 25 yards on two punt returns.
He also boomed punts of 62 and 66 yards.
This impressive, consistent rookie delivered solid deep snaps. Mann also assisted on one of the punt return tackles.
Jones tracked and handled all his punt return opportunities (2 returns for 19 yards) and returned 3 kickoffs for a sub-par 22.3 per return.
The biggest stat of all, ball security, was executed impeccably.
On Tyrone Tracy’s second kickoff return, Tracy was expecting Jones to at least get in the way of a Texan, but Jones’s block was so ineffectual that his man clotheslined the unsuspecting Tracy.
We’re still not sure how Tracy held onto the ball, but that block was as feeble as it gets.
Tracy’s first kickoff return was his best one, getting it out to the 35-yard line. On his second, he was stopped dead cold for a short return.
Barnes had to step up and make a diving tackle on the game’s opening kickoff when a teammate’s contain failed.
Continuing to justify his presence on this team with solid special teams play, Ford recorded 2 more kickoff tackles.
Getting a rare elevation from the practice squad, Layne failed to hold his contain after a great directional kickoff to his side of the field. Layne watched helplessly as the returner ran past his edge out to the 40-yard line.
Layne corrected that miss, but the coaches directed the next kickoff to the opposite edge, away from Layne, who did get in on another kickoff return tackle later on.
Returning from an injury that kept him out a couple of games, Nubin did not play many snaps on defense, but he was all over special teams.
Nubin served as the punt team’s fullback. He made a big tackle on punt coverage and another heavy hit on a kickoff.
If Nubin’s career is on the verge of segueing into special-teams specialist territory, as we suspect, it wouldn’t hurt him to start the process as he did Sunday.
Nubin has a natural inclination toward physicality (a prerequisite for playing specials), and he has good straight-line speed to get him into the right places on time.
If he can learn to break down and control his gap while moving, he may have something valuable.
As a safety, he has limitations, but every team is always looking for special teamers who can be trusted and who can play it tough. We think Nubin could be that man.
Continuing to lock down one of the gunner spots on this team, Jones made a nice knifing tackle on the Texans’ initial (and dangerous) punt return.
Owning the other gunner spot, Campbell looked sharp with his contain, but he never did find the ball.
Like Tyrone Tracy this preseason, Fidone is making himself valuable to the team by showing up on special teams. He made a nice solo kickoff return tackle. He’s looking sharper and more agile out there as he adjusts to the speed of the game.
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