HOUSTON (AP) — g on beaches or attending football games at their universities during Houston’s bye week Shane Lechler Color Rush Jersey , Demaryius Thomas was at NRG Stadium studying the playbook and watching film.Thomas, who was acquired from Denver on Oct. 30, didn’t have the luxury of a break. The receiver had too much to catch up on after struggling at times in his Texans debut in a 19-17 win over his former team just five days after the trade.He had three receptions for 61 yards in that game, but had a false start, lined up in the wrong spot and looked lost on a drive in the fourth quarter.“I don’t even want to have to deal with that again,” Thomas said. “It was two critical downs where it could have hurt us in the game, but it didn’t. So I stayed here, got situated and I was in the playbook.”Thomas believes his extra work will make things smoother Sunday when the Texans travel to face the Redskins. The game will also be emotionally easier for Thomas since it isn’t against the team with which he spent his entire career before the trade.“I feel way better,” he said. “I ain’t playing the Denver Broncos, a team I was playing for for nine years also. So with the weeks in and preparation still going on, I feel a lot better.”The Broncos honored Thomas, who was their first-round pick in 2010, with a video tribute before the game which featured some of the top touchdown receptions from his time in Denver. He acknowledged that seeing that and then lining up against his former team made the day rather emotional.“Yeah it was,” he said. “It was tough.”But he’ll have no such distractions Sunday when the Texans, who lead the AFC South, face another first-place team in the Redskins, who sit atop the AFC East standings.“Both teams are 6-3 Natrell Jamerson Color Rush Jersey , both teams are finding ways to win and that’s the main thing about this league is getting a W at the end of it,” he said. “We’re looking forward to it.”The Texans traded for Thomas after Will Fuller, who ranks second on the team with 503 yards receiving, suffered a season-ending knee injury. Now that Thomas has gotten up to speed with the Texans, coach Bill O’Brien is looking to get him more involved this week.“We’ve got to be able to use him more, even more than we did,” O’Brien said. “He had three catches. I think they were all basically almost on the first or second drive of the game … I think we’re going to make a lot of strides with him from week to week.”Thomas said he has spent a lot of time with quarterback Deshaun Watson and receiver DeAndre Hopkins since his arrival in Houston. But he doesn’t ask them a lot of questions. He simply watches them at practice to figure out how he’s supposed to do things.“I’ve been able to catch on fast since I’ve been in the league, so it’s just stuff that when we’re on the field and we’re going fast, those are things that I really need because I haven’t heard them before,” Thomas said.Watson said the transition has been made easier since he had a relationship with Thomas before the trade.“It’s been good,” Watson said. “We’ve known each other before, so as far as hanging out and just talking ball, we’ve done that before. Now, being on the same team and having more time, especially, the past bye week of getting together and getting on the same page, it’s been good.” Down 24-19 with only two minutes left in their week 15 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers last year Justin Reid Color Rush Jersey , the New England Patriots unleashed the Gronk: tight end Rob Gronkowski was targeted four times on the eventual game-winning drive (a series that spanned just five plays in total), registering three catches for a combined 69 yards. On top of it, he also caught a critical two-point conversion after Dion Lewis’ go-ahead touchdown.His performance during New England’s 27-24 win last season was just the latest in a string of outstanding games Gronkowski has produced when going against the Steelers. In six meetings with Pittsburgh’s defense, the future Hall of Famer combined to catch 39 passes for 664 yards and eight touchdowns. In short: Gronkowski was near unstoppable every time New England met the Steelers since 2010.Naturally, the 29-year old will be a priority target for Pittsburgh on Sunday. “It is a serious job to work to minimize his impact on the game,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said about the matchup earlier this week. “He’s a dangerous man. He’s Gronk. He’s a vertical matchup. He’s a big-time play-maker. He’s good with the ball in his hands after the catch. He’s a big-time competitor.”Last year, the Steelers tried slowing Gronkowski down by using more man-coverage concepts against him. The plan did not work: he finished the game with nine receptions for 168 yards and, as noted above, was indefensible on the game’s final drive. Tomlin knows that he presents a serious challenge for his team again this year, despite not producing at the same level this season as he did in years past.“Gronk has missed some time this year but he’s finding his rhythm,” the Steelers’ head coach said. “He has been playing the last several weeks. You know the matchup issue he is for everybody globally and he is, and has been, for us in the past. We’ll be thoughtful about putting together a plan to minimize him and his impact on the game. When you play a guy like him it’s going to take multiple people and multiple techniques.”Gronkowski himself is aware of the fact that the Steelers will be focusing on him tomorrow. “I feel like they’ll throw a lot of things,” he told reporters during a press conference on Thursday. “I mean, I’ve seen a lot from them before — a lot of coverages, a lot of split-safety, post-safety Tyler Ervin Color Rush Jersey , man, zone. They switch it up a lot, too, and so I’ve had a couple guys before — like a linebacker covered me one time, a safety or a corner.”“To tell you the truth, they actually mix it up a lot and you’ve got to be prepared for it all, whatever coverage, whatever guy it is,” Gronkowski continued. No matter what the Steelers have thrown at him in the past, he has countered it effectively and provided a reliable target for quarterback Tom Brady — who himself has a history of playing well against the team — in each of his six matchups versus the Pittsburgh defense.Tomlin, meanwhile, knows that Gronkowski has been a problem his team was unable to solve over the past few seasons. “As far as stopping him, it’s not as easy as A-B-C,” he said. “We haven’t been a part of it. We’re looking to be.”