Texans S Justin Reid says players are doing more than buying into the new defense

There is something different about the Houston Texans defense.

In the past two contests, the defense has generated a total of 10 takeaways and held the opposition to under 20 points. Houston’s defense has held opponents under 110 rushing yards in the past two games.

Even though Houston has a 2-8 record, the Texans defense has kept the team in games over the past two weeks.

According to safety Justin Reid, what is manifesting on the field is the total buy-in from players when it comes to defensive coordinator Lovie Smith’s system.

“I think that it’s kind of what Coach Lovie preached as far as buying into the system and guys starting to understand the defense more,” said Reid. “Not just understand it, but to really believe and excel in it, having eyes on the quarterback in the zones, maintaining leverage, trusting your teammate to be in their gap and you do your job and just fly around and have fun with it.”

Reid has been one of the playmakers on defense with 42 combined tackles, four pass breakups, a forced fumble, and two interceptions through nine games, all of which he has started.

Houston is tied with the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals — two teams atop their respective divisions — for the fourth-most takeaways in the NFL with 19. The stat suggests that the Texans’ defense would be able to compete at a high level if the other two phases can continue to play complementary football.

“The two punts the last two weeks in a row, those are just early Christmas gifts,” Reid said of the muffed punts against the Miami Dolphins in Week 9 and the Tennessee Titans in Week 11. “Those just go our way. We’re going things the right way. We are building and we just got to keep that train moving.”

Houston faces the New York Jets in Week 12 at NRG Stadium. The Jets lead the NFL with 23 turnovers.