Houston Texans vs. Denver Broncos Preview: C.J. Stroud 'Can't Focus on Chaos'

Houston Texans vs. Denver Broncos Preview: C.J. Stroud 'Can't Focus on Chaos'

The Houston Texans won’t be playing the same Denver Broncos team that gave up 70 points in Week 3. Pride is an awfully good motivating force, epitomized by Denver’s five-game win streak, At 6-5, and wins over the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Cleveland Browns, this is no longer the cakewalk it looked like two months ago.

Much of that improvement can be pinned on the Broncos' defense and its ability to create turnovers. While their success rate only ranks 29th since Week 4, limiting explosive plays and creating turnovers has given them the 16th-best expected points added per play in that span.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans spoke about the talent on that side of the ball on “Coffee With Coach.”

“It starts with their defensive line. D.J. Jones, he’s made a lot of plays at the interior nose spot so it starts with him. Nik Bonitto on the edge is doing a really good job, Cooper on the edge, they have really good edge players,” Ryans said. “But the strength of their team definitely lies in their secondary. They have multiple guys in different spots, whether it’s the safeties, the nickels, the corners, they’re all over the field.”

Undoubtedly, the star of Denver’s defense is cornerback Patrick Surtain II. He is perhaps the best cornerback in football and grants defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to call plays with the freedom of having a top receiver (or portion of the field) totally locked down.

With that, he can be creative, and Joseph has done just that. No team has forced more turnovers than the Broncos’ 22. Although Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud has not been one to put the ball in harm’s way, his aggression could come back to bite him on Sunday.

Ryans was quick to acknowledge the respect he has for Joseph.

“Vance does a really nice job of mixing up the looks, the coverages,” Ryans said. “I know they’ll be coached well … They’re gonna strain us, Vance is gonna change it up a lot, give us a lot of different blitz looks, so we have to be on it. We can’t focus on all the chaos that people show us, we just gotta go out and execute one play at a time, back to our basics, back to our fundamentals.”

It comes as no surprise that Ryans is preaching fundamentals, but keeping things on schedule will be even more important in Week 13. Down-to-down consistency is critical in keeping Houston in two-dimensional, favorable situations, where shot plays are easy to find and turnovers are less likely.

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Stroud showed last week that he can maneuver around pressure, but relying on him to make plays out of structure is a risky gambit for any offense.

With both teams a game over .500 and jostling for playoff positioning, it’ll be on the Texans to end the Broncos’ streak and best position themselves in the AFC Wild Card race. This one will kick off in Houston at 12 p.m. (CT) on CBS.