New York Giants defensive tackles Shelby Harris and D.J. Reader feel the Houston Texans present an explosive challenge led by C.J. Stroud, while also acknowledging that their own run defense has shown peaks and valleys this season due to unfinished fits and quarterback runs.
Harris described Houston’s offense as one built around the downfield attack.
“They’re a very explosive offense and everything that they do, they love the downfield attack,” Harris told reporters on Tuesday. “And when you have a quarterback like C.J. Stroud, that makes everything possible. He can make every throw.”
He added that he does not view Stroud’s season as a resurgence and pointed to a prior meeting in the playoffs while with the Cleveland Browns.
“I was in Cleveland
his rookie year when he killed us in the playoffs,” Harris said. “And so, I know what he can do. I know he can make every throw out there. And so that Houston offense really, I think they are a budding offense, and they’re just waiting to explode and it’s on us to really get them to slow down.”
Reader, who began his career with the Texans, said Houston has talent across the skill positions and on defense.
“They’ve obviously got a good squad, and they’ve got a lot, a lot of good players,” Reader said. “Offensively, (they) got some really good guys at receiver, a good quarterback, my guy (David Montgomery), I don’t know if he’s back this week, but he’s back to run the ball. Woody Marks is a good back. And another guy (Jawhar Jordan), I believe his name is, he can run the ball a little bit. Tight ends are solid. On defense, they speak for themselves.”
On the Giants’ run defense, Reader pointed to inconsistent fits that have allowed quarterback runs and the plunge play to gain yards at times.
“I think sometimes just a little bit of the fits on just some of the stuff, cleaning up that type of thing,” Reader said. “We’ve let some quarterback runs kind of beat us in some places. And that’s always a little bit difficult, especially last week. In a rain game, it was a little bit hard, but this week. . . I think it is just a discipline of play in and play out.”
He said the plunge play has been fit well on some snaps and poorly on others, and that the group has shown it can execute when the details are correct.
The Giants will need those same details against a Houston offense capable of attacking in multiple ways.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants preparing for Texans' C.J. Stroud to attack defensive weaknesses
