Falcons tackles Ryan Schraeder and Jake Matthews had their hands full with Houston’s three-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro J.J. Watt.
“Hats off to the offensive line,” Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones said. “J.J. Watt was over there. Jadeveon Clowney and all of those guys over there on that line. They’ve got a strong line with (Vince) Wilfork, too. They moved them around and opened up some holes.”
Schraeder, who plays right tackle, had Watt for most of the game.
“It went pretty good,” Schraeder said. “I felt like we did pretty good with the protection for most of the day. I ended up giving up one sack. Four games and I finally gave up my first one, I don’t feel too bad about it. But I think it well overall.”
Matthews played against Watt last season when the Falcons held joint-practices with the Texans before the third exhibition game. They had some fierce battles when Matthews was a rookie, trying to learn his way in the NFL.
On Sunday, Matthews, who’s in his second-year in the league, was able to contain Watt, too.
“I had a couple of plays against him,” Matthews said. “He’s a really good player, but I think we game-planned well against him. We had a lot of success when we did.”
In addition to beating Schraeder for a sack, Watt finished with four tackles, a quarterback hit and two passes defensed.
Houston outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, the former South Carolina standout, had just two tackles and a pass defensed.
Schraeder and Matthews did receive some help with Watt.
“I just tried to get after him like I always do,” Schraeder said. “He’s a good player. I felt like we did pretty well against him. Kyle did a good job with the scheme, giving us some help when we needed it.”
Matthews believe the outside-zone runs took a toll on the Texans.
“Really, just what our offense is, getting guys to run,” Matthews said. “Wear them down and find those little holes on the edge. I think we did a good job of creating spaces and our backs took advantage of it.”
The running game helped to slow down Watt as the Falcons stayed out of many obvious passing situations.
“We just tried to get in those guys’ way and let our running backs do what they do best,” Schraeder said.
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