Ryan Nielsen is eager to play Houston on Sunday

Jacksonville’s Defensive Coordinator Ryan Nielsen spoke to the media this week about the challenge of playing Houston and how his defense matches up to the Texans offense.

On how Houston’s offense differs from last season

Ryan: No, it's expanded. Rookie quarterback and we played him early in the season, the first third of the season. So, you see the progression. They've done a phenomenal job with the QB. He's playing at a very high level. They've got good offensive line experience and then they're explosive at the wide outs and Mixon [Texans RB Joe Mixon] as a back. He's one of the top backs in the league. We really respect him and his ability to run downhill and make guys miss. They've got explosive playmakers at all the positions, skill positions, good offensive line. The quarterback is distributing the ball, reads coverage very well. So, it's going to be a challenge.

On how the defense matches up against Houston’s offense

Ryan: Yeah, we feel we have a good match up. We're going to play fundamentals and technique. We're going to do what we do. We always have a wrinkle or two for the opponent. But it's all about going out there, playing confident in our fundamentals and technique, playing within the scheme and just executing our job. I mean, that's what this game is. We’ve got to execute at a high level. That's the National Football League, week-in and week-out. So that's been our focus.