Texans getting familiar faces back
The Texans are expecting to have three key players return Sunday as they visit the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Nico Collins, who missed last Thursday night's game against the Eagles due to a groin injury suffered in Week 8 against the Raiders has had a good week of practice and his ramp-up process has gone well. He was limited in practice earlier in the week but is trending toward a return.
Veteran receivers Chris Moore and Phillip Dorsett stepped up in his absence with larger roles on offense, but the Texans miss the second-year pro as a deep threat. Collins is second on the team in total receiving yards, third in targets and fourth in catches, so getting him back is vital for Mills to have another consistent option, as Collins showed improvement in play-making prior to his injury.
Brandin Cooks returned to practice this week. After creating a distraction with his absence from practice and last Thursday night's game against the Eagles, Cooks said Thursday that he's ready to contribute again.
"I mean mentally, anytime I line up in between those white lines I want to give my best," Cooks said. "Because at the end of the day when you go out there you can't think about it. You know the things that's happening off the field is one thing but when I go out there and line up with my brothers, at the end of the day I just gotta be there for them, and the other stuff you know just take care of itself."
Cooks leads the team in targets, catches and yards. He has been used more as a quick outlet for Mills this season, which could come in handy against a blitz-happy Giants defense Sunday, which brings blitz 42.9% of the time in quarterback dropbacks.
While the Texans were bad at stopping the run before Maliek Collins went down with a chest injury, they certainly haven't been able to put their best personnel on the field in his absence.
Head coach Lovie Smith has said numerous times that he's their best option at stuffing the run in the middle and reiterated his value to the defense this week.
"Maliek Collins, it all kind of starts with, most defenses, interior guys, the closest ones to the quarterback," Smith said. "To be able to get Maliek back is big for us. We missed him an awful lot."
While Collins has been limited this week in practice and is trending in the right direction, it remains to be seen what kind of impact his presence will have against another one of the league's top 10 rushers as they get set to face Saquon Barkley this week.
Davis Mills against the blitz
The Giants love to bring the pressure, they're doing it at a 42.9% clip on passing downs. The Giants are bringing more pressure than a defense has in the last two seasons, and it's also the fourth-highest blitz percentage in the league within the last seven seasons.
The Giants have sent at least five guys nearly 43% of the time.
Davis Mills has handled the pressure pretty well this season, completing 63.5% of his passes when pressured with a 100.1 passer rating.
However, the real question is how successful have the Texans been in those situations in terms of gaining yardage and moving the chains?
The numbers are inflated a bit given that the bulk of Mills' completions have come on dump off's behind the line of scrimmage, while he is among the worst in the league at completing passes in the intermediate to deep passing game when pressured.
The Texans' best bet Sunday against the Giants is to try and take advantage of the pressure by gashing them in the run game.
Entering the Week 10 matchup, the Giants have the 8th worst run defense in the league, allowing nearly 138 yards per game on the ground, including 5.5 yards per carry, which is second-worst in the league.
This could be another big game for Dameon Pierce, who is coming off of a career-high 139 yards rushing on 27 carries against the Eagles.
Take care of the football
Given the quality of the roster and lack of talent and depth at key positions, the Texans have to have a number of things go right for themselves to stay in games.
Take care of the football, create takeaways, and run the football well.
In large part, they've done a pretty good job of taking care of some of those things.
Especially running the football.
However, Davis Mills has struggled of late with interceptions. He's thrown four interceptions in the last three games, including two against the Eagles, in their 29-17 loss last Thursday night.
Going against a Giants defense that has only recorded one interception through the first eight games and will be without one of their best players, safety Xavier McKinney, it's vital for Mills and the Texans to be efficient through the air Sunday in passing situations.
