For Reid, Brady a super test
Safety excited to pit his skills against best QB in NFL history
Usually, if you’re looking forward to playing against Tom Brady — the greatest quarterback in NFL history — you should see a psychiatrist and prepare to get fitted for a straitjacket.
Practicing in the heat and humidity at training camp hasn’t caused safety Justin Reid to lose his mind. He knows these are unusual times for the Texans because they’re undergoing a defensive transformation and need a challenge to test how well they’re evolving on his side of the ball.
The Texans have seven sacks and seven turnovers in preseason victories over Green Bay and Dallas, but the defense avoided playing against quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Dak Prescott. Now, Brady and the Buccaneers are coming to NRG Stadium to provide the kind of tune-up the Texans need before they
begin the regular season Sept. 12 against Jacksonville.
“Oh, this is the best test you can have,” Reid said Thursday after the last practice of training camp. “We’re going against the defending Super Bowl champs. Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time. That makes it a little bit more exciting.”
Tampa Bay is expected to play its starters into the third quarter. How much Brady plays depends on how well the Bucs do in the first half. If they score a lot of points, he could be done for the night.
Brady won’t recognize many of the Texans’ defensive players. Reid is one of only nine defenders who were on the roster or practice squad in 2019 when the Texans defeated New England in a primetime game at NRG Stadium.
Brady is quite familiar with the architect of the Texans’ metamorphosis this season, general manager Nick Caserio. He started with the Patriots in 2001, one year after Brady, and was part of New England’s first Super Bowl winner.
Caserio has brought in 25 new defensive players.
“The confidence is high on the defensive side of the ball,” Reid said. “I feel like we’ve been playing solid so far. We haven’t had a test against a starting quarterback yet, so this will be exciting for us to actually do that.
“And it’s our first home game, too. We’re going to have a good crowd come out, so we want to defend the home turf.”
In 2018 and 2019, Reid’s first two seasons with the Texans, he played against Brady and the Patriots, losing by seven and winning by six.
“I have yet to pick him off, even though I should have,” Reid said, laughing. “I wish I could have some of those back, so this will be a fun game to play against him.
“They’ve got real good receivers (like) Mike Evans and (Chris) Godwin. Matching up against those guys, making sure we take away the deep ball and also playing the run physically, we want to just be solid across the board, not beat ourselves, and just play sound fundamental football.”
Not only are the safeties the last line of defense, but Reid, Eric Murray and Lonnie Johnson have done well in practice and games. The coaches have high expectations for them to make the kind of big plays Johnson pulled off against the Cowboys with his 53-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Like the players, the coaches are excited to see how the defense does against Brady and his receivers as well as the Bucs’ running game.
The defense has played well against backup quarterbacks at Green Bay and Dallas. Now comes the ultimate test. If the pass rushers don’t pressure Brady, the secondary is left vulnerable.
“Our defense is different now,” safeties coach Greg Jackson said about the transition to Lovie Smith’s 4-3. “I always tell our back-end guys that defense is about getting to the quarterback. We’re not waiting anymore. We want to get the quarterback.
“When we pressure the quarterback, we have to be ready to react and play, getting to your landmarks, playing with vision, breaking on the quarterback, making open-field tackles and being a consistent player.”
Jackson, who played safety for 12 years in the NFL, likes what he’s seen of Reid. He was asked this week what he expects from Reid if he’s able to stay healthy after missing three games in 2020.
“I expect him to be a leader and take control of the back end,” Jackson said. “I expect him to be a good open-field tackler, a good communicator and to be able to make adjustments.
“When things aren’t right, he can make it right. I’m not going to say I expect him to make big plays, because those are going to happen if you’re in the right place at the right time and you understand what’s (happening) on the field. I think he’s going to be a really good player.”
Reid and Murray are the starters. Johnson comes off the bench. They can’t afford to make mental errors, because mistakes mean big plays, including touchdowns. Jackson knows what he wants from Reid and his teammates on the back end.
“It’s about staying consistent,” he said. “Stay at the same level as a unit throughout the season, and we’re going to be really good. We’re not up or down. We’re even keel.”
Fans will start to find out just how even keel they can be Saturday night when they line up against Brady and his abundance of big-play receivers.