After watching the tape and re-evaluating the outlook of Sunday's 36-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills, here's everything Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans had to say on Monday about the outcome, what went wrong and where the team can improve entering Week 2.
Question: On how to eliminate explosive plays as a defense
DeMeco Ryans: “To eliminate explosive plays, it starts by simply guys doing their job, being where they're supposed to be. Whether it's coverage, leverage, or being outside, being inside, being on top, where we're supposed to be, how we're rushing, our rush plan, also all that ties in together. We gave up 11 or 12 explosive plays and when you give up that many plays, you're going to give up points. We have to do a much better job of
just being where we're supposed to be, finishing how we're supposed to finish.”
Q: On trusting the process
Ryans: “You definitely have to trust the process when it just comes to doing what we're supposed to do. The Bills, they made some plays and made some good catches, but when we're not where we're supposed to be, we're going to make it look even better. It always starts with us about just doing the things that you're supposed to do to help you win the game.”
Q: On how to improve tackling as a team
Ryans: “Tackling, it all starts with the mindset. How are you showing up with a physical mindset to put your pads on the guy, wrap, squeeze and bring the guy down to the ground? It starts there. We were in position, just have to finish them.”
Q: On how difficult it is for new players to play in the defensive scheme
Ryans: “When it comes to our defense and how we play whoever is in the scheme, whether it's rookies or veterans coming into our scheme, it's nothing new that we're doing for us. It’s things we've been doing since OTAs and Training Camp. Guys just have to do their job. There's no magical elixir that it takes to play defense for us. It’s just guys being accountable, being where they're supposed to be, communicating the proper way and just being on the same page.”
Q: On how much RB David Montgomery contributed to the offense in Week 1
Ryans: “I would have loved to give David a game ball, first Texan to start his debut with three touchdowns. I thought it was a very impressive game by him finding a way to get in the end zone, the offensive line blocked it really well, just really encouraged with what he brings and what he provides our offense. You talk about a guy who can be an explosive runner, physical runner. When we needed yards, he was able to get positive yards even when the run may have been blocked for zero. He was able to get four and five yards on runs, that speaks to David and just how he plays the game. He's added a lot to our offense. I know our guys ran the ball really well, starting with the offensive line, how they finished their blocks, our tight ends, how they blocked. Collectively, we did a really good job running the football. We threw the ball well, too. C.J. [Stroud] did a good job. We threw the ball well. We had our way offensively the way those guys moved the ball up and down the field.”
Q: On whether the Bills ran new plays since the last meeting
Ryans: “It was pretty much the same plays that they ran before and they executed well.”
Q: On whether he believes the defense bought into their hype
Ryans: “I don't know. You have to ask those guys about the hype. I don't believe in hype. You've heard me stand here many times and talk about people talking about how great the defense was. Yeah, that was 2025. You don't just line up and it's 2026 and just because you were good last year, you got to go out and make the plays. We made plays. The difference in this game on Sunday versus the time we played the guys last year, we took the ball away three times. We go into this game, we don't take the ball away at all. We turn the ball over two times and we don't play smart defensively. We're not where we're supposed to be. We know the quarterback is going to scramble out to our left, if we don't stay out to our left and the quarterback runs for a touchdown, they're going to make plays. It's not about the 2025 Texans defense. You have to put your stamp each and every year on who you're going to be. This is a new team. This isn't 2025. You have to go earn it. That's every year in the league, you have to go prove yourself. You can talk about it all you want to, how good you want to be, what are you going to do. You have to go out and make plays. That's always been my message. My message never changes. Talk never matters. When the ball is snapped, what are you doing?”
Q: On how the Bills slowed down the pass rush in Week 1
Ryans: “From the pass rush perspective, they did a good job. They chipped our ends, which is nothing new or out of the ordinary. We see that protection a lot. They chipped our guys and we just have to continue to rush collectively and be on the same page with how we're rushing. Guys have to be tied in and rush together.”
Q: On LB Henry To’oTo’o’s injury status
Ryans: “Unfortunately, Henry had a shoulder injury. He'll be out for some time now.”
Q: On the pass protection of QB C.J. Stroud
Ryans: “I thought the pocket was pretty clean for most of the game. We had those two plays that we would like to have back, but that won't overshadow how good the protection was, how good the run blocking was. There will always be things to clean up. When you look at it from an overall game perspective, I thought the guys did a really good job. C.J. doesn't throw for that many yards if the pocket isn't clean a lot. They gave him a lot of clean pockets and he delivered the football really well and made good decisions.”
Q: On the improvements made when at the goal line
Ryans: “The goal line, it starts with our offensive line. If our offensive line, we're on the goal line, if they put their man in the end zone and whoever is running the football, we'll be able to gain a yard. It starts with the offensive line. No matter who's running the football, the offensive line mentality is right. We play with great leverage, low pass. Our hat placement is in the proper spot. If we move the guys in front of us, then it's easy to get a yard.”
Q: On how he evaluates the impact of missed chances in games
Ryans: “How I evaluate the game is the game comes down to guys being able to maximize their opportunities to make plays. When you maximize your opportunity to make plays, most of the time you're on the winning side of things. From that standpoint, as I look at it, we had guys in position to make plays. We didn't make them. You give credit to the other team. They made the plays and we didn't. Some of those plays we didn't make could have been game-changing plays. There were a lot of plays in the game that were game-changing plays for us. You can't start the game where in the first half of the game, you give up three touchdowns. To turn the ball over on the first possession of our offense. We turn the ball over the first time we touch the ball, we give them three points. Right there, it's an uphill battle when you give a good team 24 points in the first half, that's an uphill battle. Our guys fought. We battled back. We were leading that game in the fourth quarter. First game of the season is always crazy. You never know how it will play out. But we still had an opportunity to close that game out. Offensively there, five minutes left, we need a better drive there. We can't go three-and-out. Defensively, we have them backed up. In that situation, we had our chance to close it out. When I look at this game, we had multiple opportunities on a lot of different phases. Special teams, offense and defense, all three phases, had a chance to help us improve our chances of winning that football game and we didn't make the plays we needed to make.”
Q: On skill players roles moving forward
Ryans: “For everybody, it's just a constant improvement for everyone on our offense. I think every skilled player touched the football yesterday, which is cool to see. Both backs did a great job. All the receivers had a hand in us moving the football. A lot of great contested catches. ‘J-Wayne’ had a nice contested catch. Everybody helped us out. That's a credit to our offense, the coaching staff and all the players doing a really good job.”
Q: On WR Kayshon Boutte
Ryans: “Kayshon did a really good job with the snaps that he was given. He was able to get an explosive play for us there to put us in range to go score. Tight one there on the sideline. He was about to make a difficult catch, he has to finish it to the ground. I like where Kayshon is. Even though he got here late, he was able to get in. He learned the game plan. We were able to move him around different spots. He's handled himself really well. It's been a pleasure to work with him over the short period of time we’ve had him. He'll just continue to get more, get more comfortable with what we're asking him to do. I see him continue to have that big play ability as he showed yesterday.”
Q: On the special teams units
Ryans: “To start with special teams, I give credit first and foremost to Kai [Kroeger] and how he came in, how he punted for us. He did an outstanding job giving us some backed-up opportunities. Ka’imi [Fairbairn] as well, to go out and hit a 58-yard field goal, it's always impressive to see him. We have to continue to utilize him. He's been a great asset for us in scoring points. [Austin] Brinkman just did a great job of snapping the football as well. Now when it comes to our other phases, when it comes to covering the kickoffs, we have to do a much better job of not allowing the opponents to get out as far as we allow. There were too many leaky yardages there on the kickoff coverage. We have to improve there. On our return game, we left a ton of yards out there. We force ourselves into a backed-up opportunity. We have to field the ball. We have to advance it and move forward there. We also had another opportunity late in the game to get some yards on a return where we have to improve our decision-making. We have to be better in the return game. We have to coach it better. We have to do a better job, everybody. It's some hitting yards that were left out there on special teams that could have helped us improve this game as well.”
Q: On the challenges of playing the Cincinnati Bengals
Ryans: “The challenges for this week going against Cincinnati, they are a well-coached football team. We know they have an explosive offense. Their receivers and the quarterback, they've done a really great job over the past few years of making those explosive plays and that's something that we've shown we gave up last week. It's going to be a test for our defense right back again this week. You have to eliminate the explosive plays.”
Q: On whether he expects LB Henry To’oTo’o to be on the Injured Reserve list
Ryans: “We'll see, we haven't made a decision yet. We'll see how it goes.”
Q: On LB Jake Hummel’s injury status
“Ryans: Jake Hummel had a groin injury, so it'll be week-to-week.”
Q: On the improvements of the offense and QB C.J. Stroud
Ryans: “The improvement I've seen from our offense, it started in OTAs, it continued in Training Camp and it showed the first game of the season. From [Offensive Coordinator Nick] Caley to the rest of our coaches to C.J., everybody has continued to improve and they did a great job moving the football. They did a great job of giving us points. Just being in sync, you talked about the confidence all offseason of C.J., how he's improved, where has he improved. You see the command, you see the confidence in how he's operating and it showed on Sunday.”
Q: On what led to the Bills not facing a third down in the second quarter
Ryans: “We didn't force third downs because we played poorly on those second downs. I think it was mainly second down plays. We played poorly. The defense came out second half and we were able to stop the run. I thought that was our first emphasis of stopping [James] Cook. Our guys did a much better job of that in the second half of tackling, stopping Cook. It still came down to some of those explosive plays that happened to us late in the second half. We did a really good job for most of the second half, just that last drive when we needed it most. We needed to step up and make a play. That's when they got us.”
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: After Further Review: Everything Texans HC DeMeco Ryans said following loss to Bills in Week 1
