From missed tackles to coverage breakdowns, Texans' defense rues inability to finish in Giants loss

Cam Skattebo took the handoff from J.J. McCarthy and ran through a gap on the right side of the New York Giants’ front into a crowded area.

But that didn’t stop the bruising running back. One Houston Texans defender got his hands on Skattebo. Another lowered his shoulder into Skattebo’s lower half. A third whirled his arms through at the running back.

None of the Texans could bring Skattebo down as he bounced like a pinball off the red-dressed Texans before finding the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown.

The play was a microcosm of Houston’s struggles defensively in Sunday’s 27-21 overtime loss to Skattebo and the Giants at Reliant Stadium. There were too many missed tackles and too many big plays. 

“We just missed tackles at crucial times,” safety M.J. Stewart said.

Tackling was a point of emphasis for defensive players in the locker room after the game.

Will Anderson Jr. said it was one of the team’s keys to victory but nobody ended up doing a good job wrapping up opposing players. Henry To’oTo’o said the team’s scheme is built around stopping the run and that they have to do a better job bringing players to the ground. Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair said the team’s tackling hasn’t been good enough all year.

But Al-Shaair also added that the Texans’ defense did make their share of plays against New York. The difference was the Giants had their best moments at the most opportune times.

The prime example was in overtime, when all it took was three plays for the Giants to go 81 yards and score the game-winning touchdown. Skattebo picked up 42 yards going right up the middle on a handoff and then Devin Singletary ran for 30 more on the next play for the walk-off touchdown.

“They made the plays that they were supposed to make to win the game, and we didn’t,” Al-Shaair said.

But it wasn’t just in overtime when the Giants bested the Texans at the right time. 

An unnecessary roughness penalty on Skattebo put New York well behind the sticks in the first quarter but then McCarthy found Malachi Fields for a 47-yard catch with Fields gaining 32 of those yards after the catch. Fields later killed the Texans twice more on third downs, connecting with McCarthy on a 20-yard chain mover and 14-yard completion that set up Skattebo’s score.

“We’ve got to be able to cover in man coverage,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “We got to be able to tackle. That’s football. No magical elixir is going to drop out of the sky and, ‘Oh, now, you’re going to fix it.’ We fix it by putting the work in and getting better at fundamentals of football and that’s where we’ve got to just own it.”

GIANTS 27, TEXANS 21 (OT)

N.Y. Giants77076-27Houston311070-21

First Quarter

Hou_FG Fairbairn 58, 11:40. Drive: 7 plays, 25 yards, 3:20. Key Plays: Hutchinson kick return to Houston 35; Marks 11 run.
Houston 3, N.Y. Giants 0.

NYG_Tracy 2 run (Zvada kick), 6:26. Drive: 10 plays, 66 yards, 5:14. Key Plays: Tracy kick return to N.Y. Giants 34; Winston 2 run on 3rd-and-1; McCarthy 8 pass to Nabers on 3rd-and-10; Mooney 3 run on 4th-and-2; McCarthy 42 pass to Nabers.
N.Y. Giants 7, Houston 3.

Second Quarter

Hou_FG Fairbairn 57, 9:03. Drive: 7 plays, 39 yards, 3:36. Key Play: Stroud 25 pass to Boutte.
N.Y. Giants 7, Houston 6.

NYG_Winston 1 run (Zvada kick), 3:32. Drive: 10 plays, 78 yards, 5:31. Key Plays: Tracy kick return to N.Y. Giants 22; Skattebo 11 run; McCarthy 17 pass to Nabers; McCarthy 29 pass to Fidone.
N.Y. Giants 14, Houston 6.

Hou_Mar.Harrison 6 pass from Stroud (Stover pass from Stroud), :34. Drive: 9 plays, 90 yards, 2:58. Key Plays: Stroud 43 pass to Dell; Stroud 17 pass to Schultz.
N.Y. Giants 14, Houston 14.

Fourth Quarter

NYG_Skattebo 16 run (Zvada kick), 8:55. Drive: 14 plays, 80 yards, 8:18. Key Plays: Skattebo 19 run on 3rd-and-1; Skattebo 2 run on 3rd-and-1; McCarthy 1 run on 3rd-and-2; Winston 1 run on 4th-and-1; McCarthy 14 pass to Fields on 3rd-and-9.
N.Y. Giants 21, Houston 14.

Hou_Hutchinson 3 pass from Stroud (Fairbairn kick), :52. Drive: 9 plays, 48 yards, 4:14. Key Plays: Stroud 2 run on 3rd-and-1; Stroud 15 pass to Marks; Hutchinson 10 run.
N.Y. Giants 21, Houston 21.

First Overtime

NYG_Singletary 30 run, 7:25. Drive: 3 plays, 81 yards, 1:29. Key Play: Skattebo 42 run.
N.Y. Giants 27, Houston 21.

___

NYGHouFIRST DOWNS2215Rushing125Passing97Penalty13THIRD DOWN EFF5-133-12FOURTH DOWN EFF2-21-1TOTAL NET YARDS420237Total Plays6554Avg Gain6.54.4NET YARDS RUSHING18884Rushes3425Avg per rush5.5293.36NET YARDS PASSING232153Sacked-Yds lost3-201-0Gross-Yds passing252153Completed-Att.20-2817-28Had Intercepted00Yards-Pass Play7.4845.276KICKOFFS-EndZone-TB5-1-15-0-0PUNTS-Avg.4-49.756-46.167Punts blocked00FGs-PATs blocked0-00-0TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE139120Punt Returns2-192-25Kickoff Returns5-1204-95Interceptions0-00-0PENALTIES-Yds4-5010-80FUMBLES-Lost0-02-0TIME OF POSSESSION35:5026:45

___

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING_N.Y. Giants, Skattebo 17-124, Singletary 5-41, Tracy 6-15, Winston 4-4, Mooney 1-3, McCarthy 1-1. Houston, Marks 19-66, Hutchinson 2-12, Stroud 2-4, Dell 1-2, Stover 1-0.

PASSING_N.Y. Giants, McCarthy 20-28-0-252. Houston, Stroud 17-28-0-153.

RECEIVING_N.Y. Giants, Nabers 7-111, Fields 4-83, Singletary 3-14, Likely 2-12, Fidone 1-29, Mooney 1-4, Tracy 1-2, Skattebo 1-(minus 3). Houston, Schultz 5-45, Hutchinson 3-17, Collins 2-6, Noel 2-(minus 3), Dell 1-43, Boutte 1-25, Marks 1-15, Harrison 1-6, Stover 1-(minus 1).

PUNT RETURNS_N.Y. Giants, C.Jones 2-19. Houston, Dell 1-14, Noel 1-11.

KICKOFF RETURNS_N.Y. Giants, C.Jones 3-67, Tracy 2-53. Houston, Hutchinson 3-74, Noel 1-21.

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS_N.Y. Giants, McFadden 10-0-0, Reese 5-2-.5, Washington 5-2-0, Carter 2-2-0, Thibodeaux 2-2-0, Pinnock 2-1-0, Adebo 2-0-0, Jamison-Travis 1-2-0, Banks 1-1-0, Harris 1-1-0, Phillips 1-0-0, Alexander 0-2-.5, Reader 0-2-0, Ford 0-1-0. Houston, Stewart 5-7-.5, Lassiter 5-3-1, Rankins 5-0-0, To’oTo’o 3-7-.5, Bullock 3-1-0, Stingley 3-0-0, Al-Shaair 2-7-0, Togiai 2-1-0, Clowney 2-0-0, Anderson 1-3-0, Hansen 1-2-0, Hunter 1-1-1, McDonald 1-1-0, T.Smith 1-1-0, Crumedy 0-2-0, L.Hall 0-1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS_N.Y. Giants, None. Houston, None.

MISSED FIELD GOALS_N.Y. Giants, Zvada 56, Zvada 44.

___

OFFICIALS_Referee Land Clark, Ump Mark Pellis, HL Dale Keller, LJ Stephen Ray, FJ Jabir Walker, SJ Dave Hawkshaw, BJ Brad Freeman, Replay Gavin Anderson.

McCarthy impressed in his first start with the Giants after arriving in a trade last month with the Minnesota Vikings. He operated well out of the pocket, dropped a few perfect throws and looked calm even when the pressure descended on him. 

He finished with a career-high 252 yards on 20-for-28 passing with six of his completions going for 17 yards or more and two of them being 40-plus-yard plays.

Al-Shaair said when teams start a new quarterback, the offense has to run the ball well and have a good play-action attack. New York did that.

“When you’re not stopping the run, that’s when it opens up a play-action game, and that’s where you saw some of the explosives and big plays come,” Al-Shaair said. “He has the ability to throw the ball downfield and make all the throws.”

In the run game. Skattebo led the way for the Giants with a career-high 124 rushing yards, which was also the most Houston had allowed to any team total this year heading into the day. New York’s 188 total rushing yards were the second-most allowed by the Texans’ defense since the start of the 2024 season.

The Texans really wanted the win heading into the off week, Anderson said. But now they enter it hoping to come back with some answers for the rest of the season.

“We’ve got to go tackle,” Anderson said “It’s defense. We’re here to stop the ball, and that’s what we have to do.”

Subscribe

There’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.

This article originally published at From missed tackles to coverage breakdowns, Texans’ defense rues inability to finish in Giants loss.

Advertisement