‘Going to be a great matchup, I respect his game,’ Texans’ Nico Collins preps for Dolphins’ Jalen Ramsey

HOUSTON – When Texans star wide receiver Nico Collins breaks the huddle Sunday and jogs to the line of scrimmage, he’ll likely have Miami Dolphins veteran Jalen Ramsey following him around the field.

As the Texans’ most dangerous downfield weapon, Collins commands that kind of respect.

And Ramsey, a physical, seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback who’s one of the bigger players at his position at 6-foot-1, 208 pounds, has a track record to be taken seriously. He has 24 career interceptions, including two this season.

“Yeah, it’s going to be fun, a great matchup,” Collins said. “I respect his game. I’ve been watching him for a long time, even when I was in high school. I respect him. Dude is a playmaker. I’m excited to share the field with him.”

During a 23-20 road victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars before the bye, Collins caught eight passes for 119 yards on 11 targets. Those are his highest catch, yardage and targets since he was activated from injured reserve. Collins has 20 receptions for 201 yards and one touchdown over the past two games heading into the 8-5 Texans’ pivotal game Sunday against the Dolphins at NRG Stadium.

Playing against Ramsey represents another challenge for Collins, who has gotten back into a groove since returning from a pulled hamstring that cost him five games on injured reserve.

“He is real motivated without you noticing,” Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “Every day he just working to be the best. I think that is because he has been under-looked for so long and how he has been approaching the game is, ‘I am going to work hard every day and I don’t care who I am playing against or what they say, I am just going to do me’. Now people are noticing.

“I think he is going to enjoy this game, and I look forward to seeing Jalen Ramsey and Jalen is maybe looking forward to following him. We don’t know yet, but definitely Nico is up for the challenge and ready to roll and I am excited just to be a part of that. He approaches everybody the same and he has been the underdog for a long time. I think he keep that mentality which I think is a good thing. Doesn’t ride the highs or the lows.”

Despite missing a significant portion of the season, Collins has 49 receptions for 832 yards and four touchdowns with 37 first downs. At one point, Collins was on pace for 2,000 receiving yards and 100-plus catches before he got hurt. He has been targeted 72 times.

He’s now on pace to finish the season with 64 catches for 1,088 yards and five scores.

Collins has done it all while maintaining his low-key personality and not straying from the blue-collar work ethic that got him to this ultra-productive stage of his career, and earned him a three-year, $75 million contract extension this offseason.

“The one thing that makes Nico special, I would say, just character-wise, he’s humble,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “He’s about the team. He’s not a ‘give me the ball’ guy. He’s humble and his approach daily, he’s a hard worker, I have to give you more than one, but humble is the one that sticks out the most to me. Everybody understands. Hard worker, has speed, athleticism, all those traits.

“But the one thing that sets Nico apart, for me, just being around the game for a while now, just seeing how humble he is. He really reminds me of another humble guy who was around here for a while and that’s Andre Johnson. For me, it’s rare to have a guy of Nico’s size and his ability and just his mindset. There are a lot of great receivers that have played the game and a lot of great personalities that make the game fun and Nico does it in his own way and it’s exciting to watch him play, exciting to watch him work on a day-to-day basis.”

As for Ramsey, he’s coming off a difficult outing against the New York Jets. He allowed four catches for 97 yards for his highest yardage total he’s allowed since 2017, according to Next Gen Stats.

“If you ask Jalen Ramsey, it wasn’t close to his best game,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “There are certain ties that I think he believes and we believe that the defense is best served when he’s on an island. And then within that, I think sometimes with those bold approaches player here or there can happen.”

Ramsey covered Garrett Wilson on 36 of 42 routes last Sunday in an overtime win. Overall, he allowed six completions for 146 yards for the game.

Ramsey has allowed 34 catches on 53 targets for a 64.2 completion percentage, 369 yards, two touchdowns and an opposing quarterback rating of 81.4, much higher than last season’s 51.1 rating when he finished with three interceptions.

“We’ll see what happens as far as the matchup goes,” Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said. “We kind of prepare every week for the what if teams decide to match, what if they don’t and what if they do both and how we go into the game. I know all of our guys, all of our skills are really ready for whatever winds up happening, we’ll adjust.

“Jalen is a really good player and he’s been a really good player for a long time. I’ve gone against him it feels like 10 times now and every time I’ve gone against him, he’s impacted the game a great deal in some way, shape, or form and I anticipate that to be no different this week. We’ve got a lot of respect for Jalen and what he does.”

And, from Collins’ standpoint, the fact that teams are game-planning for him connotes respect for his gold standard of play.

“It means a lot,” Collins said. “It means they watch film. They respect the game. I respect that. I like that. I feel like for me I got to keep going, take advantage, win my matchup. I know my team is depending on me. I’ve got to eat, too. You know it’s going to be a big-time game.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com