This Sunday at NRG Stadium, the two best defenses in the NFL will be under the same roof, as the Denver Broncos visit the Houston Texans in what should be an old-school, smashmouth, defense-dominates-the-day affair that your father or grandfather would love. Points will be hard to come by and everyone involved will feel the effects of this game in its aftermath.
And it's not just you and I who know this. It's not just the sportsbooks either -- the over/under of 40 points is the lowest of the week across the NFL. Both of these teams know what they're in for on Sunday afternoon as well. On both sides, the staffs and players are aware of the challenges that the opposing defense will present. Now it's just about who comes up with the best game plan, and what teams execute at a higher level.
For the Houston Texans offense, the name of the game will be slowing down the league's most prolific pass rush. Denver is currently on pace to finish the year with the most sacks in a single season in NFL history, and it doesn't matter whether they're sending four guys or five guys or more, the Broncos are getting to the quarterback at an historic rate.
"[We have to] really strain to get them blocked up front -- knowing that they're a really solid group and really solid on the inside as well," Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said this week, per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com. "They'll play a five-down front. It's just everybody across the board is going to have to win their one-on-one matchup."
"[Denver] does a good job of playing relentless," CJ Stroud added. "They don't give up. They play really tough. The interior [defensive line], they have really good interior guys as well. So, they have a really good defensive line."
In addition to having a stable of some of the league's best pass rush artists -- such as Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper and Zach Allen -- DeMeco Ryans noted that it's defensive coordinator Vance Joseph who deserves some of the credit as well.
"Joseph, he does an unbelievable job of bringing a variety of pressures every single week," Ryans said. "You have to be ready. Again, all your protection rules get tested. Vance does a really good job of knowing how to stress your protection and where the weak points are. So, we know we're going to get strained in that area."
The Texans offensive line is coming off of its best game of the season, but the challenge that the depleted San Francisco 49ers defense presented pales in comparison to what Houston has to deal with this Sunday.
Inconsistent Broncos offense faces tough test in Texans' top scoring defense
Things won't be any easier for the Denver Broncos offense than it will for Houston's in Week 9. I've written plenty about Houston's defense this season, but I'll offer the same reminder I have many times already... by any combination of statistical measures, this is the best defense in the NFL, and they're within striking distance of going down as one of the top scoring defenes of the century.
"This is, in my opinion, the best defense that we've faced," Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Thursday. "It's going to be a big challenge. They're aggressive, they run fast, they hit hard. They're a group with really good instincts. You see them, there's a play, maybe a screen or something that's really setting up well and you think, 'Oh, this is going to be a big play for the offense,' and they just rally and feel it a little quicker maybe than other defenses and shut it down."
As Broncos quarterback Bo Nix stated earlier this week, it's not as if the Texans are doing anything too complex on that side of the ball. It's a fairly straight-forward approach, but it's technically sound and rock solid from a personnel standpoint, with stars all over the field, including Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, Derek Stingley Jr. and Jalen Pitre.
But the secret sauce, as Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton sees it, is that it's a group filled with guys who love playing football and love playing for DeMeco Ryans.
"That defense plays really hard. They play really fast, and they have a lot of guys that love ball. You can tell they play really hard for their coach," Sutton said. "So, it's going to be on us to make sure that we are locked in for what's ahead of us and making sure that we prepare for ourselves, make sure that we are doing what we need to do to be as prepared as possible to go out there and play fast and play confident and execute."