After further review, here's everythingHouston Texanshead coachDeMeco Ryans said following Week 3's 19-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, including the lack of a run game, the missing explosives and where to go from here after asecond straight 0-3 start to the season.
Question: On an assessment of the offense
Ryans: "For us, we have to look at it and see where we can be better offensively. Of course, we want to move the ball better and get out of some of those quick three-and-out situations. We can move the ball better, just execute a little bit better, coach you a little bit better. Everybody just staying together, finding a way on offense to do more."
Q: On the running game
Ryans: "We're looking at everything from an offensive standpoint of the
running game, what can we do differently for us to make sure we can turn out some yards in a run game. The positive is the way 'D-Mo' [David Montgomery] runs the ball, he runs it in the right way. You talk about a guy running physical, undeniable. Then Woody [Marks], with the touches that he's getting. He's getting a lot of positive gains. He's playing explosive, playing fast. I love the way the backs are running. We can continue to do a better job. I thought our guys, they play with our type of play style up front. I like the way the guys finished in the run game. A lot of pancake blocks up front. The guys have to keep working, have to keep trying to do some different things as well, schematically with our run game. We just keep pressing forward. But we're headed in the right direction. We just have to clean up a few things."
Q: On finding production on offense when key players are inactive
Ryans: "It hurts not having Nico [Collins] out there. He's a big part of what we do offensively; he comes up with explosive plays. But also for us, it's how we scheme things up, scheme it up. We had some shots. 'J-Noel' [Jaylin Noel] has gotten some explosive plays. [Xavier] Hutchinson has gotten some explosive plays. Dalton [Schultz] has gotten explosive. We've gotten explosives from other guys besides Nico. We found a way to generate those. We like to generate more because we know explosives are how you score points."
Q: On having an adaptable offense
Ryans: "Every week, everything is changeable. It's just a matter of getting the communication down, getting the plays in, doing what we need to do. That's one thing about [Offensive Coordinator Nick] Caley's system and what he's capable of doing. He's willing to adjust and adapt to what we need. So whatever we have to do to move the football, we're willing to do that."
Q: On communication between the team
Ryans: "When I say communication, it's communication of the plays, like play calls. ‘What's that call? How do the players hear it come in the huddle? How do they go out and execute it?’ The communication of just offensive football: everybody being on the same page, terminology, what we want done on a particular play, what's the protection scheme on a certain play, what's the quarterback's drop on a certain play, route depth by receiver. There are a lot of things that have to happen. A lot of things have to go right for offensive football to be successful."
Q: On the loss Week 3 to the Indianapolis Colts
Ryans: "For us, it wasn't good enough for the game yesterday. Starting with me, it wasn't good enough from a coaching standpoint. If that's where you're going, it wasn't good enough; we'll get better."
Q: On the timing of the final timeout call against the Indianapolis Colts
Ryans: "From that, I have to do a better job to get that timeout call or something."
Q: On going for it on fourth and one late into the game
Ryans: "Yeah, I make the call to go for it. Look, you're aggressive; you go for it, you have to live with it. Just standing here last week, I don't go for it, ‘Shame on me.’ You go for it, you don't get it, ‘Shame on me.’ That's the position of a head coach. It happens, and I'm man enough to own those decisions and live with the decisions that I made. I came out of this game saying we're going to be aggressive. We took the ball to start the game, wanted to come out with an aggressive mindset, offensively come out, try to get a good drive, go. Fourth down, being a little bit aggressive there to, 'Hey, let's punch it. Let's move these guys off the ball. Let's try to get a yard,' which I've seen our guys do. I've seen the guys get it done, and it didn't happen. We got stopped, and that happens. When you're the head coach, you make decisions. Sometimes they go great. You're the best coach ever. Sometimes decisions don't go great. You're the worst coach ever. You should get fired. I understand that. I'm a big boy. I can handle all of that."
Q: On the use of timeouts in a two-minute drill
Ryans: "I have to be better and make a better decision."
Q: On what area of the team he would like to have a greater impact
Ryans: "I hope my impact is just fine."
Q: On if there are any changes planned to be made
Ryans: "No, we're all in this thing together."
Q: On leaning more on QB C.J. Stroud in the passing game
Ryans: "For sure. The thing for me about offensive football is you have to make sure you move the ball and try to score as many points as possible. How that looks to me, it really doesn't matter. You can think or want to be a certain thing. But if you're shown that that's not the case and it's not getting done, then you have to adjust. That's where we are. We have to adjust some things. As a team, we have to adjust some things. Of course it's not going right. We're 0-3, not where we want to be. We have to adjust and rethink all the things that we're doing to put us in a better position to win and finish football games."
Q: On having a sense of urgency and drowning out the noise
Ryans: "The sense of urgency has never left. It's always been a sense of urgency. We've had a couple games here. First two games, I mean, it comes down to a two-minute drive there in the first game versus Buffalo; same thing here, versus Indy, two minutes, can go one way or the other. We can be sitting here looking at ourselves 2-1, but we're not. We didn't finish the games. Of course, we have to do a better job of finishing collectively, starting with myself, coaches and the players. Collectively, if we finish better, we'll be in a better position."
Q: On the Dallas Cowboys
Ryans: "Nothing. I have not watched the Cowboys."
Q: On having high expectations
Ryans: "Everybody talks about the expectations. For me, I always say, ‘What type of expectations do we all have?’ Everybody should have high expectations for themselves. We don't go into a season and say, 'Yeah, let's go 0-3 to start the season.' To have low expectations, I think that's a slap in the face to everyone here. We are where we are right now. Only people that can do something about it is us, the men in the locker room. We stick together and we keep punching at that door until it breaks down. We're going to keep battling. We're going to keep working. Our process is right. The guys are working hard. The play style was really good on yesterday. We just got to finish games better."
Q: On QB C.J. Stroud
Ryans: "Maturity is the word that jumps up. It sticks out to me. He is maturing as a quarterback, as a leader. He's doing a good job of making plays for us despite whoever is around him, he finds a way to make plays and he's growing. He's showing some toughness to tuck the ball and go get us a tough third down there on third and eight. I'm seeing the toughness. I'm seeing the grit. I'm seeing the maturity. I'm seeing the leadership from C.J. He just has to continue to keep growing. All of us as a team, each year you find out who you are as a team. It's never the same. As much as you may want it to be, each year is never the same. We're still building who will the 2026 Texans become. It's a little adversity that we're going through, but adversity is going to build that character. It builds that strength that you need, the resolve that you need to continue to push through the season. This is where we are right now, but that's not who we're becoming. We are becoming a good team. We just have to go out and show it. We have to go out and finish and we have the right guys to do it."
Q: On the chemistry between Offensive Coordinator Nick Caley and QB C.J. Stroud
Ryans: "For our offensive scheme, we have different alerts where we go to the line with a couple calls based on defensive looks. We do have the ability to change plays based on the looks."
Q: On special teams
Ryans: "Our special teams, we have a lot of young guys out on our special teams and I'm proud of the step they took yesterday. They did a much better job of blocking something we've been working on our kick return unit. They did a much better job of blocking. I'm proud of what they've done. They're taking steps. They're growing. Young players have got to get reps and those guys are growing with what we've asked them to do."
Q: On key inactive status heading into Week 4
Ryans: "For Nico [Collins] and Ed [Ingram], we're hopeful to get both guys back this week. For [DE Jadeveon] Clowney, he's still week-to-week."
Q: On scheming more explosive pass games earlier into the game
Ryans: "Shot plays could be great if we hit them, that would be great."
Q: On having joyful intensity
Ryans: "Joyful intensity for me just means how are you going to attack every day? When the noise gets louder, everybody, everything is not kind of going your way. Everybody's trying to tell you who you are, what you should do, how it should be done. You have to attack it with that sense of intensity. As you go about your work, you see [DE] Will Anderson and the way he plays, the intensity which he brings, but also you have to be joyful in it all. It can be tough at times, but you have to remain joyful. Your spirits have to remain high. You have to have that faith and that confidence in each other as a team. That's the only way I've ever seen teams go through and come through on top in these moments is just remaining joyful, but also keeping with that same intensity that it takes to go out and play our style of football and knowing you're doing everything it takes within yourself, looking inward, do within yourself what needs to be done to go out and make that outcome look different."
Q: On the takeaways from Week 3's loss to Indianapolis
Ryans: "One thing, the takeaway for me is I love the play style which our guys played with. I feel like we took a step in the right direction. It wasn't there for the first two weeks, so we took a step in the right direction with how we played the game. Our guys got better on special teams when it comes to blocking. There are a lot of positives. Kai [Kroeger] punted the ball really great. There are a lot of positives for us all throughout this game. Just seeing growth in the little things, in the small techniques, the small fundamental things that we're teaching and asking guys to do, I saw that growth in our team yesterday. Although, despite it came with a loss, the negative part, we've got to find a way to finish those games. When we are in those moments, we've got to find a way to finish, but there are a lot of positives to take. Our guys are getting better."
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: After Further Review: Everything Texans HC DeMeco Ryans said following Colts' loss
