Reading the coverage of the Houston Texans...

We begin today with the observations of a fellow person who used to work in Jacksonville. John Harris of HoustonTexans.com has some interesting nuggets in this week's 20 observations. Here is one on J.J. Watt's fascinating process of choosing his target:

During Sunday’s game, in the second half, I saw him sprint over to the left side of the defense where RT Sam Young was. The Texans had just broken the huddle and Watt ran directly to that spot. As OLB John Simon started in that direction, Watt waved him back to the other side. Watt then proceeded to draw Young, TE Marcedes Lewis and a RB, which opened up the inside pass rush for Tim Jamison and company. It’s amazing that Watt has such freedom within the defense, yet still plays within the confines of the defense play in and play out.

And another on how the Texans fixed their early issues against the run:

Early in the game, the Texans defense struggled with runs off the Jaguars left side, the side with LG Zane Beadles and LT Luke Joeckel. Those runs resulted in a lengthy drive that turned into the only touchdown of the day for the Jaguars. The Texans put Brooks Reed and Watt on that side for the next drive and the Jaguars went nowhere. Defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel adjusted accordingly in the second half and had even more success against the Jaguars running game for the most part.

Peter King asked Watt to pitch himself as the league's MVP and he got the answer Watt has offered pretty consistently: Watt isn't interested in making that pitch with anything other than his play. I found this part of King's analysis of Watt's MVP chances to be interesting:

For this year alone: Justin Houston and Elvis Dumervil are tied for the league lead with 16 sacks. Watt is next with 14.5. But using the numbers of the redoubtable Pro Football Focus database for quarterback hits and pressures, you can see where Watt distances himself from the pack of the leading sackers in the NFL through 13 games. ...

So do we really have to establish some sort of Greatness Quotient?

“If all positions were created equal, J.J. Watt’s the best player in football by a mile, and it isn’t close,” said Neil Hornsby, the founder of Pro Football Focus, which judges every player on every snap.

Aaron Schatz, the president of the long-running football analytics group Football Outsiders, agreed: “Watt is by far the best player as his position compared to the average of his position.”

The Texans mustn't fear their 13th trip to Indianapolis, writes John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. He deems this the most significant Texans regular season game since the team went to Cincinnati in 2011 and clinched their first AFC South title. Of course, a win Sunday wouldn't clinch anything, but it would be a step toward the Texans' goal of making the playoffs. And it would mark a franchise milestone, as they've never won in Indy.