FLOWERY BRANCH — Here's what Houston Texas star J.J. Watt had to say on the conference call with the Atlanta media on Wednesday:
Q: How’s the defense coming together this season?
A: We're doing well. Obviously, it's good to get the first win under our belts. We are looking forward to going on the road here against a very good team in the Falcons and putting out best foot forward. We are looking forward to the challenge of facing a very good football team on Sunday.
Q: What have you seen from Jake Matthews this year?
A: He's a good football player. He's been a good football player. I don't think that's necessarily just this year. It's always difficult to make that transition into the league. I think he's handled it well. He's very athletic. He's a guy who had a great pedigree. He's stands on his own. He makes some great blocks. I think that he's worthy of the praise that he's been given.
Q: How’s the defense coming along now that Clowney seems to be helping?
A: Our defense is coming along. As the weeks go on, we keep getting better and better as we come together. Every week we've taken a step forward and hopefully this week we take another step.
Q: What are the challenges presented by the Falcons offense?
A: They are a very good football team. They had great success running the ball last week. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones is a great combination. Julio is making some incredible plays. He's a great player. Matt is a very smart quarterback. He's great with the ball. We just need to go out and play a well-balanced game. We need to play our style of football. We need to go out there and do what we do best and execute our assignments. We look forward to the great challenge.
Q: How do you assess their running game?
A: We haven't seen them since training camp of last year, so I can't really say much about it. They had a lot of success against Dallas. We are going to take a look at that. That's a good offensive line and a good running back. We have to make sure that we execute our assignments to the best of our ability.
Q: Are you going to play tight end?
A: I never know.
Q: Is this league too fast to play read-and-reaction defense? What does (Houston defensive coordinator) Romeo Crennel preach?
A: I think you do a combination of both. I think you have to be smart while you go out there and play aggressively. He does a great job of coaching that and he has a great staff that helps coach that. The one thing that (Crennel) has done is that he wants guys to make plays. When you go out there, you have to play freely to make plays. But you can't be dumb about it. You have to go out there and make sure that you take the right kind of risk and you do the right kind of aggressive play. That's one thing that our guys have done. We continue to progress at that. Going out there and being very aggressive, but being smart about it.
Q: How do you account for un-scouted plays?
A: Every week in this league, you see something that you haven't seen before. Coaches are always doing different things and trying to find new ways to create plays. Every single week in this league, you see something new. That's where your instincts and your football I.Q. comes into play. You practice for a reason. You may feel that you're ready for every situation that you've seen, but then when you see something that you haven't seen, you just let your instincts takeover.
Q: Was (former Houston defensive coordinator) Wade Phillips different from Romeo Crennel in any specific ways?
A: They are both extremely well experienced. They both have been very successful and they both have a tremendous amount of respect around the league. That's definitely the case. They both are incredible gentlemen. I've been very fortunate to play for them. I think the biggest similarity between the two of them is that we've been able to work out some of the freedoms. Crennel has given me some of those freedoms. He trusts me and I trust him in the same way that I built that trust with Wade. The ability to go out there and have some creativity and have some freedom out there on the field has been great. Those are some differences, but there were more schematically that I won't (discuss).
