The football kept gravitating in the direction of Texans cornerback A.J. Bouye, an unsubtle expression of confidence from Denver Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian.

It was obvious Siemian wanted to go after Bouye, targeting the former undrafted free agent on two consecutive passes during the Broncos' first offensive series Monday night. It didn't have the desired effect, though. Bouye is no weak link in the Texans' defensive chain.

Bouye was up to the task as he effectively shadowed one of the top wide receiver tandems in the league.

First, Bouye tackled Demaryius Thomas for no gain. On the next play, Bouye broke up a pass intended for Emmanuel Sanders. During the Broncos' ensuing drive, Bouye adeptly covered Sanders on an incomplete deep pass.

From humble beginnings as a free agent from Central Florida who experienced his share of struggles and bouts of inconsistency during his first three seasons with the Texans, Bouye has emerged as one of the more underrated cornerbacks in the NFL.

Tall and sizable at 6-foot, 190 pounds with a hard-nosed mentality, excellent leaping ability, instincts and a growing belief in his cover skills, Bouye has become invaluable for a secondary that lost cornerback Kevin Johnson for the season due to a broken foot.

"I have great confidence, you know?" Texans defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel said. "It's just like in the game the other night. They tried to throw a go route, a deep ball, and he was right on it. I really thought he was going to intercept it because I was standing there on the sideline and I said, 'A.J.'s got this. A.J.'s got this.'

"But the receiver knocked it down. His progress has been like that. You've got the kind of confidence in him that you feel like he's going to be able to cover whatever route they run against him."

The secret is out

During the road loss in Denver, Bouye was targeted 10 times. He allowed just 38 passing yards, limiting Thomas to 19 yards on five passes thrown his way. He broke up both passes thrown to Sanders. Pro Football Focus ranked Bouye as the top cornerback performance of the week and has consistently placed him among the best at his position all season.

"The coaches put me in the best position to make plays, and just mindset, really," Bouye said. "That's pretty much the main thing, just knowing I can play and not worrying about when I'm getting beat or stuff like that. Just learn from it, just keep playing and helping the team whenever I can."

"I just try to stay humble the whole time, really, and just keep working. Everybody gives up plays. I give up plays. You never want to get too high, you never want to get too low, you just want to stay the same and keep working."

Fast enough to guard elite receivers on deep passes, Bouye has quietly become the answer to whatever thorny question the Texans' defense is facing.

It was Bouye who drew the difficult matchup of Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl tight end Travis Kelce. Although he was giving up five inches and roughly 60 pounds, Bouye manhandled Kelce.

It didn't offend Bouye that the Broncos targeted him. He enjoyed it thoroughly.

"I like it," he said. "I take it as a challenge. I know my team is relying on me to make plays. Even if I give up a play, my mindset is to always keep pounding. We're relentless. We may give up plays, but we always come back stronger."

Although he's quick to deflect praise inside the Texans' locker room, Bouye's confident demeanor is obvious on the field. He gets in the face of receivers, sticking them in the chest with a hard jam at the line of scrimmage. He's not shy about running with them step for step and has a smooth backpedal and breaks quickly on the football.

One probable reason behind Bouye's improvement is his daily competition in practice with Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. They've developed a friendly rivalry and a strong mutual respect.

"He makes plays, he's very instinctive," Hopkins said. "He's bigger than most corners as far as height-wise and arm length. He's very active and very instinctive."

Noticeably bigger in the upper body, Bouye gained weight yet is still leaner and appears faster than a year ago when he started two of 15 games played and had 14 tackles, two interceptions and six passes defended. This season, Bouye has started three of seven games and has 27 tackles, one sack and eight passes defended to lead the Texans' second-ranked pass defense.

"It's a combination of things," Texans general manager Rick Smith said. "He's a talented young man, first of all. He works extremely hard at his craft. It's not easy to play corner in this league and to play at a high level. He's doing it.

"Obviously the loss of Kevin that was a big loss for us. With the way that A.J. is playing, it gives us the ability to still play at a high level pass-coverage wise. He's done a nice job. He's a young ascending player."

After briefly discussing a long-term deal with the Texans before being assigned a $1.671 million restricted free agent tender, Bouye upgraded his game and impressed the coaching staff and teammates.

In NFL circles, Bouye is now regarded as a potential hot commodity as a pending unrestricted free agent. Because it's a passing league, big corners who can run, tackle and cover like Bouye command big dollars.

"Bouye is no secret, everybody knows about him," said an NFL executive speaking on condition of anonymity. "If he makes it to free agency, he'll get paid a lot. I could see him making anywhere ranging from $6 million to $8 million per year, easy. That's the price of doing business when it comes to that position. He's a really good football player. You can see the Texans have done a really nice job of coaching him up and that he's worked very hard to get better."

'Anything is possible'

The father of a young daughter, Zoe, Bouye is determined to improve and thrive.

Raised by Steve Bouye, a retired corrections officer once responsible for guarding hardened criminals at the federal prison in Atlanta like Mafia bosses John Gotti and John Gotti Jr., and Nicky Scarfo along with celebrity inmates like rapper T.I. and former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, Bouye was imparted with plenty of knowledge and blunt commentary from his father growing up in Georgia.

"I saw a lot of things at the prison as far as individuals who traveled down the wrong path, and I had to use tough love on A.J.," Steve Bouye said. "We would argue a lot because I'm harder on him than anybody. I don't sugarcoat it. I tell it like it is. I'll tell him, 'You looked terrible out there.' I'm a lot like my father. I love A.J. and I'm not going to sit back and not tell him the truth.

"I told him to treat every play like it's your last and ask yourself one thing: 'Did you win or did you lose?' There's no in between. I've known what this kid could do all along. He's taking in what I've been preaching. The light finally came on."

In his fourth NFL season, Bouye has played in 42 career games with 11 starts. He's recorded 95 career tackles, five interceptions and 24 passes defended with one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

"I think he's always been a good player," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "Ever since we've been here, he's done a lot of good things for us. He's made big plays in big games. He's a good football player. He's got good size.

"He's playing with a lot of confidence. He's got length. He's got good ball skills, good speed, so he's playing pretty well right now."

Bouye hasn't forgotten how other NFL teams snubbed him when he was coming out of Central Florida. So many cornerbacks who were drafted instead of him never panned out.

"It kind of brings a chip on your shoulder," Bouye said. "At the end of the day, anything is possible. That's been proven by other undrafted players. My dad always told me to be the best teammate I can be and motivate other players. You put the team first and then everything else comes into place."