The New York Giants are preparing for a healthier and more complete version of the Houston Texans than the team that opened the season with early struggles.

Head coach John Harbaugh acknowledged the improvement after Wednesday’s practice, noting that Houston has found itself in recent weeks.

“They’re playing better. I mean, I guess the bottom line, they're healthier for sure than they were early on. In those weeks, they kind of found themselves a little bit," he told reporters. "They've added a couple players, added a wide receiver, and got a couple guys healthy. Two inside backers are back. They’re getting a receiver back again this game, who's been out for a while, Tank Dell. He’s a unique skill set guy. Every team evolves; every team's different than they were to start the season.”

The return of Tank Dell and the inside linebackers restores pieces that helped define Houston’s identity last year, when the unit ranked as the league’s top defense. Harbaugh described the current group as fundamentally driven rather than scheme-dependent.

“Yeah, it's more fundamentally based. It's not so much a scheme defense. I think it's more of a kind of a mindset defense. They really do a great job of playing ahead of plays, and staying on top of plays. They're in the right spot. They're playing aggressively. They play downhill on plays," he said. "They don't change the scheme up too much, although they're blitzing a little more the last two weeks since DeMeco has taken over the play calling. A little more aggressively, but they play aggressively.

"They play fundamental football. They're very physical. They've got the two edge guys that set the tone; they got the two inside backers back now. They're tone setters as well. They were the number one defense in the league last year. Not quite there statistically this year, but we can see that they're pretty confident in what they're doing, so we'll have to be at our best.”

Houston’s edge rushers continue to set the physical tone, while the recently returned inside linebackers add another layer of disruption. The increased blitz rate under DeMeco Ryans’s play-calling has only sharpened that approach.

The Giants recognize they will need to match that intensity in a difficult road environment against a team that is trending upward.