(On if it’s nice to play a team for a second time this season) “Yeah, it’s different. This is like the first time I’ve been able to do this since high school, so this is pretty cool. I think you get confidence from playing a team and seeing them before, you get a little understanding. But we also know it’s going to be a different challenge, they have a lot things different, as do we.”
(On if going up against Texans QB Deshaun Watson amplifies the game for him) “Not really. Sometimes when you go against those guys, you probably want to score a few more points, because of how good they are, but no not really. I don’t watch any of it. [I] focus on the 11 guys they throw out there on defense.”
(On if he’s ever been to London) “No, first time.”
(On if he’s looking forward to the trip to London) “Yeah. Just trying to figure out the best way to handle all of the travel and everything, because I do hear that that’s definitely different. So, just trying to handle it the best way I can and luckily basically everybody here has done it, so I get to lean on their experience. But it’s something that I am excited for.”
(On a veteran player who has helped him prepare for London) “Our quarterbacks coach, Coach [Scott] Milanovich. He’s helped me with everything and then the strength staff as well. They’re all doing a good job of making sure I’m right.”
(On the best advice he’s been given in terms of body preparation) “I don’t know about that. You get all kinds of advice. I think you don’t realize how serious it is with taking care of your body until you’re here, until you’re halfway through the season and those games start wearing on you. You always hear it, but really seeing it for yourself is kind of the biggest thing.”
(On if he’s been given any advice on preparing for the time change when heading to London) “Not really. You just have to start it early in the week, start your hydration, make sure you’re sleeping early in the week. Making sure you sleep on the plane. And then you can’t take any naps on Friday. You have to stay up all the way to where you can sleep through the night. So, just a few things like that.”
(On if he sleeps well on planes) “Yeah, I do.”
(On how he thinks he will be received overseas) “I have no clue. I’m sure it’ll be pretty good; I hear they’re pretty big Jags fans over there. If they’re Jags fans, they’re my fans too.”
(On if he’s ever flown outside of the country) “No, [I’ve] never flown out of the country.”
(On if there is a landmark in London that he wants to see) “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know, I’ve been asking people what’s good to see, so I don’t know. Maybe the London Eye, that’s the big ferris wheel, right? Is it just that big? It’s a pretty big deal, so maybe that. I’ll go see the town from there. I don’t know.”
(On how talented the Texans defense is even without DE J.J. Watt) “They have [talent] all over the place. He’s one of the best players really to ever play the game, so definitely it’s a difference when he’s not in there. But they have good enough players where they present challenges all over.”
(On the presence of rookie OL Jawaan Taylor) “He’s been awesome, man. He’s drawn some tough matchups through these first eight games and he’s – trial by fire or whatever, he’s come out strong and he has a lot of confidence and we have a lot of confidence in him.”
(On the challenge of focusing on Week 9. versus Houston) “I think this is too big of a game to really think about anything else. We’re sitting at a pivotal point, 4-4, playing a divisional opponent. This will be the last time we get to play them, so it’s definitely a big one.”
(On what he’s seen on tape from Houston’s cornerbacks) “They have a lot of guys that are going to play, just trying to get prepared for each guy. There’s no way to know what combination of guys they’re going to have back there, but we can see schematically what they’re going to do and attack it that way.”
(On if he has seen teams dropping the safety to cover WR DJ Chark Jr.) “A little bit. It hasn’t been quite as much. He had a big game for us last week, and I missed him on a couple others that could have been big. So, DJ is working and anytime we get single coverage, we’ll try to exploit it.”
(On lessons he has learned from the Week 6 game against New Orleans) “They presented [us] with different challenges, some stuff I had never seen before. So, I think with experience you gain confidence in that, OK, people are going to throw different looks at you. We just have to know what we’re doing [and] be sound in that and be able to execute it.”
(On if he got different looks against Cincinnati and New York) “Absolutely. Still getting new looks every week, stuff I’ve never seen. But I think you have a confidence in, ‘OK, that’s happened before. I’ve gone through it once; I can do it again and we’ll be good.”
(On if he watched the play where Watson threw a touchdown pass while getting kicked in the eye) “No, I didn’t. How does that work? [He] got kicked in the eye? That’s pretty crazy. I didn’t get to see that. He’s pretty good, though.”
(On how much of the weekly preparation is done by Thursday afternoon) “You get a pretty good idea. Friday is the big red zone day and then we have some situational stuff on Saturday, but the bulk of your planning is in the books. So, we should feel pretty good.”
(On his relationship with C Brandon Linder) “It’s been awesome. At first he was making life easy on me, but since, he’s really challenged me to be part of it, and be part of making the calls, and it’s made me a lot better and forced me to have a better understanding to where now, he still does so much work, and [I’m] super grateful for him. We kind of attack it as a team now and it’s been working well for us.”
