The Texans (5-3) face the Broncos (3-5) Sunday afternoon in Denver. Read what Broncos head coach Vance Joseph, some assistant coaches and his players had to say about the Texans.
Denver head coach Vance Joseph on the Texans defense: They're playing great defense, and that's where it starts. With that front, with J.J. Watt and Mercilus and Clowney, those guys are dominant rushers. So we've got to be smart with how we approach first, second down, to keep our third downs manageable. If it's 3rd-and-long, we've got a problem blocking those guys.
Denver offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave on the Texans defense: "Very disruptive defense, so we're trying to simulate it out here at practice and prepare for this group. They're playing well. They've got a really good front 7. They're very experienced in the back end."
Denver quarterback Case Keenum on Texans DE J.J. Watt and the Texans defense: "I've seen first-hand how good he is, and the game-wrecker that he can be. They have a couple other guys on that side of the ball with Clowney and Mercilus and some other guys that can do very similar things. We've got our work cut out for us as an offense."
Denver defensive coordinator Joe Woods on Texans QB Deshaun Watson: "He is very athletic. He's the type of guy that we have to make sure our rush plan is very good, just in terms of trying to keep him in the pocket. We also have to do some things scheme-wise of mixing it up between zone, man and pressure, just to create a little bit of chaos for him. Also, we have to cover. Part of it is just rush-and-cover, so the guys know we may have to cover them twice."
Joseph on Watson and Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins: "The quarterback's special. Hopkins is a top-five guy in this League. He's having a great year."
Denver CB Chris Harris, Jr. on Hopkins: "He's easily Top 5. He's up there. He's playing at a high level. His catch radius is number one, with the way he just goes up there and gets the ball. He's definitely number one at that. We've got to be aware of where he's at every time on the field. I think he has like 78 targets. That's unreal at Week 8. That's a lot of targets. We've just got to be ready for him."
Joseph on facing Texans WR Demaryius Thomas: "I think we're OK. Every week the gameplan changes. He wasn't here for the gameplan. He flew out last night (Tuesday) and our first gameplan day was today (Wednesday). He won't know what we're doing as far as gameplanning."
Joseph on Texans WR Keke Coutee: "Very quick, very explosive and a natural slot player. He's had some good plays for them. He's been nicked up with a hamstring, but when healthy, he's made some plays for them. He's definitely going to be a tough out for us."
The Houston Texans roster in photos. (Updated 4/16/2021)
TE, Jordan Akins, #88
TE, Antony Auclair
DL, Auzoyah Alufohai, #98
DB, Cornell Armstrong, #30
DL, Ross Blacklock, #90
OL, Justin Britt
DB, Terrence Brooks
TE, Pharaoh Brown, #85
OL, Cohl Cabral, #72
OL, Marcus Cannon
WR, Randall Cobb, #18
DL, Maliek Collins
WR, Chris Conley
WR, Brandin Cooks, #13
WR, Isaiah Coulter, #82
WR, Keke Coutee, #16
DB, Keion Crossen, #35
LB, Zach Cunningham, #41
LB, Tae Davis
DL, Brandon Dunn, #92
LB, Duke Ejiofor, #53
WR, Alex Erickson
K, Ka'imi Fairbairn, #7
QB, Ryan Finley
OL, Hjalte Froholdt, #77
LB, Jonathan Greenard, #52
LB, Kamu Grugier-Hill
LB, Nate Hall, #48
DB, Vernon Hargreaves III, #26
OL, Charlie Heck, #67
RB, Dontrell Hilliard, #27
OL, Tytus Howard, #71
RB, Buddy Howell, #38
RB, Mark Ingram
TE, Ryan Izzo
LB, Jordan Jenkins
RB, David Johnson, #31
DL, Jaleel Johnson
DB, Lonnie Johnson Jr., #32
P, Cameron Johnston
DB, Desmond King
LB, Christian Kirksey
DL, Shaq Lawson
RB, Phillip Lindsay
LB, Jacob Martin, #54
OL, Justin McCray
LB, Whitney Mercilus, #59
DB, Terrance Mitchell
WR, Donte Moncrief
DB, A.J. Moore Jr., #33
WR, Chris Moore
DB, Eric Murray, #23
LB, Hardy Nickerson
DL, Charles Omenihu, #94
DB, Jonathan Owens, #36
LB, Kevin Pierre-Louis
RB, Scottie Phillips, #40
TE, Paul Quessenberry
DB, John Reid, #34
DB, Justin Reid, #20
DL, Derek Rivers
WR, Andre Roberts
DB, Bradley Roby, #21
OL, Max Scharping, #74
DB, Tremon Smith
OL, Jordan Steckler
OL, Lane Taylor
QB, Tyrod Taylor
DL, Vincent Taylor
LB, Joe Thomas
DB, Tavierre Thomas
OL, Cole Toner
OL, Laremy Tunsil, #78
DL, MeMarcus Walker
TE, Kahale Warring, #81
QB, Deshaun Watson, #4
LS, Jon Weeks #46
