“You’ve got to get back up…”

JACKSONVILLE – Mike Caldwell is encouraged by the week so far.

The Jaguars’ defense had a difficult day this past Sunday. That came after a couple of really good performances in back-to-back weeks. Caldwell, the Jaguars’ defensive coordinator, said it’s how the unit has responded this week – and how it responds Sunday – that may define it moving forward.

“That’s what you look for,” Caldwell said Thursday as the AFC South-leading Jaguars (2-2) prepared to play the Houston Texans (0-3-1) at TIAA Bank Field Sunday at 1 p.m.

“If you fall down, you’ve got to get back up.”

The Jaguars, after entering the game ranked No. 1 in the NFL in rushing defense, allowed the Eagles 210 yards and four touchdowns rushing on 50 carries Sunday. They are now ranked eighth in the NFL in rushing defense, with another difficult task looming: Texans running back Dameon Pierce, a rookie who is 10th in the NFL with 313 yards rushing and two touchdowns through four games.

“We just need to put all 11 hats on the ball,” Jaguars outside linebacker Josh Allen said. “He’s a good, young, physical back. We just need to get to him. We need to win one on ones up front, shed off and make a play. We know that. We’re going to do what we have to do.”

The Eagles and Texans approach the run differently, with the Eagles emphasizing run-pass options and the versatility of quarterback Jalen Hurts. The Texans are more traditional, depending primarily on backs – particularly Pierce.

“He’s another option they have,” Caldwell said of Hurts, “but at the end of the day, we were out of our gaps. We didn’t play fundamentally sound. We’ve got to get back to doing what we do. You just want to be successful in the run game no matter who’s running it. They (the Texans) have a really good running back, and we have our work cut out for us.”

Caldwell, too, said the Jaguars’ 18 missed tackles Sunday were “many more” than what is acceptable.

“In this game, you have to tackle,” he said. “It helps us on third down. Instead of…