Colts head coach Frank Reich on Texans QB Deshaun Watson: "He's doing a good job of taking care of the ball and still making big plays downfield. That's always a big deal. You can make a lot of big plays down the field, but sometimes that comes at a cost, and he's doing a great job of avoiding the negative play, the interception, sacks, so on and so forth like that. He's always been good at that. Good decision-making, good accuracy. Obviously, elite at extending plays, but he can make all the throws. He can do it from the pocket. He can extend plays. He's just got a lot of poise. He's just a great player."
Colts DE Justin Houston on Watson: "He's a scramble quarterback and he's strong. It's trying to keep him in the pocket and when you get to him, you have to get him down to the ground. You see plenty of times that he breaks several tackles. I think he's one of the hardest quarterbacks to get a sack off of just because of his power. He doesn't look as strong as he is, but he's very strong and he knows how to move in the pocket well."
Reich on the Texans passing attack without WR Will Fuller V: I think their mindset will be more of the same. Deshaun's playing at a very high level. I'm sure they think just like we think, it's got to be the next man up and you have high expectations of the guy coming in. You lose a valuable player like Fuller, a guy who's been a playmaker and he's playing really good football. You certainly lose that contribution, but you have a lot of confidence in the next guy up. That's just how we're trained to think."
Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni on Texans DE J.J. Watt: "Obviously, when you have a guy like J.J. Watt that you're preparing for and going against, he's been not a good but a phenomenal player in this league for a lot of years. So, I have the utmost respect for J.J. Watt. We've thought about J.J. Watt more than you could possibly think about a person these last couple of days – well, yesterday and today. We will continue to think about him as the week goes along. We don't want to let a good player beat us – not a good player, a great player beat us. So we will do everything we can do to slow him down and he is going to be able to get his because of how good of a player he is."
Colts QB Philip Rivers on Watt: "I think he, like many of the great pass-rushers, great defenders – he's not just a great pass-rusher, he's a great defensive player. You know where they are, playing Khalil Mack earlier in the year, there are certain guys – many years with Von Miller over there, there are certain guys that can ruin the football game and he's certainly one of those guys. I don't know if it's just an internal clock, but what it is, is you know where 99 is on every snap, not just me but all of us as a collective group because of the type of player he is. He's still playing at a super high level. Obviously, I played the Texans last year, as the Colts twice a year. I've played him a bunch of times and he's one of the great competitors, obviously one of the great players but one of the great competitors. He plays every snap – run, pass. He had the interception last week, so he's all over the place."
