Texans LB Kamu Grugier-Hill points to tackling as issue against the Browns
The Houston Texans were at a crossroads coming out of halftime against the Cleveland Browns in Week 2 at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Houston was tied 14-14 against Cleveland, but coming out of the tunnel at halftime to lead the offense was rookie quarterback Davis Mills. Starter Tyrod Taylor sustained a hamstring injury and was done for the day.
For linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill, there was no added pressure on the defense to win the game. In fact, the defense feels the same amount of pressure to win the game regardless of who is under center for Houston.
“In our mind, the defense has to win the game every time,” Grugier-Hill said. “That’s our approach. It doesn’t really matter who is in at quarterback. Honestly I was proud of Davis, the way he came in and did his thing.”
Where Grugier-Hill sees the Texans as being ineffective against the Browns was in their run defense.
“I think some guys, including me obviously, started jumping out of the gap and just do too much,” said Grugier-Hill, who finished with a game-high nine combined tackles.
However, tackling is exactly the issue where Grugier-Hill would like to see himself and his teammates improve going forward. Although running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt were tough to take down, both combining for 24 carries for 146 yards and a touchdown, Grugier-Hill believes they need to tighten up their fundamentals regardless of who is carrying the football.
Said Grugier-Hill: “They run hard. I mean they are not going to go down on the first contact. They are not going to go down easy. We got to do better tackling.”
Houston doesn’t have much time to correct the problems from the Browns game as they turn around quickly to host the 2-0 Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football at NRG Stadium. The Panthers have another effective running back the Texans need to corral in Christian McCaffrey.
