After further review, here's everything Houston Texans head coachDeMeco Ryans said following a 44-22 win against theLos Angeles Chargers, including his thoughts on the return of Tank Dell, the trade deadline and what to expect in Week 10.
Question: On the play from the defense in Week 9 vs. Los Angeles
DeMeco Ryans: “The defense definitely executed much better when it came down to specifically the tackling piece of it. Our guys really tackled well. Having [Jalen] Pitre back was really the highlight for me. It's the plays that he's able to make. It really energizes our entire team, the physicality he plays with him blitzing in off of the edge, making plays in the backfield, just really making it hard on opponents because of his play style and where
he's aligning just all over the field. Our guys covered well too. I thought the corners did a good job of attacking the football. [Derek] Stingley was able to come down with one pick. Kamari [Lassiter] had a couple third-down stops. It's him just attacking the football, playing disciplined coverage. When we play discipline and coverage and we're where we're supposed to be, the defensive line rushed really well because the quarterback had to hold the ball because we played coverage the proper way. All of the defensive things we talked about fundamentally, we didn't change anything; we just executed the proper way.”
Q: On whether he anticipates S Reed Blankenship and RB David Montgomery to return to practice
Ryans: “For Reed and David, we'll see how their week goes and see if they'll be able to get back. David is making some progress. I’m excited to hear about the progress he's making. We're hopeful to hopefully get him back into practice here this week or next week at some time.”
Q: On the biggest factor that has contributed to QB C.J. Stroud’s success
Ryans: “The biggest factor is confidence. That's the one thing that stands out to me. Another cool thing about C.J. is what he did over the summer, spending time with all the receivers, having them come out to work out with him. He organized workouts and had those guys make sure they showed up so they can work on their timing, work on their chemistry. That's what I see. I see us benefiting a lot from him and his leadership from the summer. That's showing up now because of how he took the time to think about his teammates and make sure everybody came out and got some work in together with him. I think it says a lot about his leadership, says a lot about him and just how dialed in he is. Now you see that confidence, you see that chemistry, you see it really at the highest level that it's been since we've been here.”
Q: On the trade deadline approaching
Ryans: “With the trade deadline approaching, as we do always, me and Nick [Caserio] will assess everything and any opportunities for us to get better as a team, we'll assess that and see what happens.”
Q: On how the success in Week 9 helps the team
Ryans: "For a lot of people, for a lot of guys, seeing is believing. I think going out, putting the work in, but actually seeing it actually come true, it means a lot. I think that's part of earning the confidence. You have to see it. You put the work in, you go out, you play well, you go get a win and now, ‘Can you repeat the behavior?’ It's really about the process. It's really about the time, the effort that you put in throughout the week and then that shows up on Sunday in different forms. But if you have a good week, it truly will show up on Sunday and that's what I'm most proud of. The way they prepared throughout the week, they were able to see the benefits of that on Sunday because everybody, each area, did what they had to do to win the game. Each area played really well and we still have things to clean up in all three areas. But I'm proud of the effort, proud of just how we went out and how we finished that game.”
Q: On the impact of S Jalen Pitre returning
Ryans: “Jalen is a significant piece when it comes to leadership, comes to communication and then just the playmaking. He's always going to find himself around the football making plays and that energizes the other guys around him. He's one of our smarter guys. When he's able to do what he does in the run game and also in the passing game, his communication to other guys is on the sidelines, just keeping everything exactly where it's supposed to be, keeping everybody in line. It's great to have Jalen back and I think we saw the impact that he has just based on how our defense looked yesterday.”
Q: On whether the defense will continue to do tackling drills in practice
Ryans: “We'll talk more about that on Wednesday. We see if we have them back, but I'm here for them. The main thing there was just to put an emphasis on the area we've been struggling. As coaches, it's our job to make sure we're emphasizing the proper things and making sure they show up where we need to see improvement. The peewee football drills, hopefully they worked. Our guys tackle much better. That's just the standard of how we tackle, so now we just keep going from there.”
Q: On the impact of K Ka’imi Fairbairn
Ryans: “I'm so proud of Ka’imi. It's him and his readiness. Whenever that moment presents itself, he's always ready and up for the moment and he always comes through for us. He's a true weapon for us. Excited to have him. Just his veteran presence, not only just what he does on the field, but just his leadership in the locker room. He's just a great man to have on our team. A lot of guys look up to Ka’imi. He's done a lot of great things for us. He's made a lot of big kicks for us. I'm just proud of the man that Ka’imi is and what he stands for, what he represents. When you have an explosive offense that can gain explosives throughout drives and you get in that field goal range area, Ka’imi, he's been money. You're more confident just in how we can put points on the board. If the offense doesn't by chance make it in the end zone, we know Ka’imi is still money when we get in a particular range based on how he's feeling that day. He's a weapon that we have, we're excited to have him on our team.”
Q: On the importance of specialist maximizing their time
Ryans: “Special teams guys have a lot of time to themselves away from the team when we're not working specific special teams, team-oriented drills; those guys are off to the side. When you talk about detailing out your craft, it's something that goes unnoticed, but that snap, hold, kick process- there's a lot of timing that goes to how we want the laces to be handled. ‘When are the laces showing up back to the holder? How's the holder being able to really catch balls that aren't friendly?’ He's still able to get the ball down in a manner in which Ka’imi [Fairbairn] can kick it. There are so many details that go into that. Our guys, Coach [Frank] Ross and Coach Will [Burnham], they do an outstanding job of just working those guys on the side, charting everything, timing everything, to always strain our specialists to always get better. That's what I love about the preparation and the work that they do. They're always striving for more. That's what makes it exciting when they operate on game day. It looks seamless, but it's not. I know it's very difficult in what they do and I never take it for granted, the snap, hold, kick process. I never take that for granted, but those guys have worked tremendously hard at their craft and it shows up on game day.”
Q: On the running back carry distribution, if RB David Montgomery returns
Ryans: “I just live in the realities. When we get him back, we'll figure that out once we get him back.”
Q: On watching a quarterback that is in rhythm like QB C.J. Stroud in Week 9 vs. the Los Angeles Chargers
Ryans: “It's a lot of smiling, a lot of high fiving, a lot of celebrating on my side when I see our quarterback playing the way he's playing. It's truly exciting to watch. Anybody who loves sports, the quarterback position is one of the toughest positions to play in sports. It's one of the most critique positions. When you see a guy who is lighting it up like [QB] C.J. is, it grabs everyone's attention. Whether we're here on the sidelines watching him or you're a fan watching at home, you have to be pleased with what you see. The performance- you have to be in awe of some of the throws he's making, the accuracy and then it's the receivers. He can't do it without the receivers who are showing up big time for him, making some really tough catches look very easy. It's everybody working together and the offensive line. C.J. is playing well because the line is giving him time to step up in the pocket. He's feeling comfortable and confident in the pocket. That's why he's able to make the throws he's making. It brings excitement and joy to everyone who's watching.”
Q: On why the defense needed to see a good performance to regain confidence
Ryans: “When it comes to making plays on the football, if you're close a lot and you come up short, you may try to do something different with the technique. You may try to do something different with an alignment. You may try to press a little bit and that happens defensively. It happens in sports in general, basketball, you're trying to press a little bit. As an athlete, you truly have to peel it back to, ‘Hey, let me get back to the basics.’ As everyone likes to say, ‘Let's get back to my fundamentals, the small things.’ When you do the small things right, that leads to you making those big plays that you want to make in our space in football. Defensively, ‘How can you go up and get an interception?’ You have to play with proper technique. Defensive line has to do a great job of rushing. The ball kind of has to fall your way a little bit. That happened for us yesterday. [CB Derek] Stingley [Jr.] was playing with great technique, climbing to the up field shoulder. He was able to make a play on an overthrown ball, which we've all seen him make that play a ton.”
Q: On WR Tank Dell’s progress and him reaching 20 miles per hour on his touchdown reception
Ryans: “Wow. Man, everything about what Tank is doing right now has impressed me. The confidence that he's been building on the side, even though he's working himself back, he was never short on his swagger, his confidence. As soon as he stepped out on the field, it feels like he's the exact same player. A lot of guys do come back and it looks a little different. I told Tank yesterday, I think it was the first pass, he caught it and he got hit a couple of times, took a hard hit and he got up. I was like, all right, now this is a welcome back moment to football because that's the hurdle for me. Every time you get hit, you get up, dust yourself off, like, ‘Okay, everything's still intact. Okay, now let's go.’ I was happy he finally got that moment. But what he's doing is beyond impressive. To battle back how he's battled back and now to make the plays that he's been able to make this week, he's just getting started. It's exciting for the Texans.”
Q: On how the team approaches to build off their success
Ryans: “You approach it the same to me. It's one week at a time because that's all we can truly control. That's all we can do anything about. No matter where we are, how the season is going to look and when the season is up, we have to deal with what's right now, what's on our plate right now. Right now, it's preparing for the Cleveland Browns. Excited for the win that we had this past week, but we flush it and we move on. Now we're preparing for a really good Cleveland team we have to go up and face. They've been pretty hot this year. We have to go up and play our best ball in a tough environment.”
Q: On whether Week 9 vs. the Los Angeles Chargers was the vision for the wide receiver room
Ryans: “From my vantage point of adding the receivers that we've added, getting Tank back, it's exactly what I thought it would be. It's stressful for defenses. You have four or five guys and the guy we're not talking about enough is Xavier Hutchinson. I know everybody talks about the other guys, but Hutchinson made two incredible plays on Sunday. The touchdown pass there in the end zone, him beating man coverage, making a big catch, the third down. We had the blitz zero to us. C.J. was able to throw a ball, staring down a defender. He throws the ball on the out route, ‘Hutch’ catches the ball one hand. It's just whoever gets the opportunity, guys are showing up. That's what's impressive to see with our receiving core. The guys are prepared. They're ready to go. They're ready for their moment and guys are making big play after big play.”
Q: On what has helped the team stay focused through the start of the season
Ryans: “For me, what helps it the most is you focus on what's real. If you focus on outside noise and others' opinions about who you are, if you let others kind of dictate who you are, then that's not helpful. But as coaches, as players, we sit down and we look at the film, we analyze it and we know what we're teaching versus what's showing up and how we can move the needle to get better and improve. We focus on those things and what people say really doesn't matter. It's about us and this team, how we go about our business day to day. I told our players this today, ‘Are you truly looking at your performance from this past week intently and really being hard on yourself? Or are you going to be a little lighter on yourself because we won the game?’ There's no time to relax and be excited about the win. You have to dial in even more and challenge yourself to areas of where you can improve to be even better for our team moving forward.”
Q: On the Cleveland Browns this season
Ryans: “For the Browns, they've done a really nice job. Coach [Todd] Monken has come there and you see a different Cleveland Browns team. You see a different energy. These guys are flying around defensively, playing fast. ‘Coach Rute’ [Cleveland Browns Defensive Coordinator Mike Rutenberg] has done a good job over there. Fundamentals, flying around, playing tough, playing aggressively on defense. Coach Monken's offense, the guys are looking fast. The one thing that jumps out is their young skill players. Talk about Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion, the tight end as well, Harold Fannin. [Quinshon] Judkins, the back, you’ve got a young group of athletic guys who can all make plays when they get the football in their hands. [Deshaun] Watson's playing well at the quarterback position as well. They're rolling along. They're playing really good football. I feel the energy from that team when I watch the tape. Playing with good energy, executing well. It'll be a really tough challenge for us.”
Q: On WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
Ryans: “I feel like Marvin's come along great. Marvin's made some big plays for us, the touchdowns two weeks ago, big play, our drive down, this two-minute drive before the half. Marvin makes a great toe-tap catch on the sideline to really get us in explosive, to get us in attack mode in the two minutes. Marvin showed up, did some good things for us, won a couple first-down routes as well. He's done a good job.”
Q: On the NCAA eliminating conference championships starting next season
Ryans: “You're breaking news to me. I'm so locked in to my little world. So, no conference championships anymore... I think it was a lot of pride in winning your conference back when I was playing. If you won the SEC, that was a huge deal. But now, when the playoffs started, you can see how less of an impact that made or how probably more significant of an impact if you end up losing your conference game. You've earned the right to play in it, but then it hurts you in the playoff seeding, that really didn't sit well. It's not great news to hear that the conference championships are going away from a guy who's just all about, ‘Hey, I go to this school to have pride in this school and I'm represented for my school.’ It means a lot to me as an alum to go cheer on and say we're the conference champions. If that's gone away now, that focus just drives to the playoffs. Can we get in the playoffs, having home playoff games? I think that'll be very impactful for college teams and just the whole playoff atmosphere. You feel that energy as they've added teams; you feel the energy, you feel the excitement. College football is always fun to watch, always exciting, always fun for us in the NFL. You never know what's going to happen on Saturday night. That's fun, Roll Tide, too. Roll Tide.”
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: After Further Review: Texans HC DeMeco Ryans comments on win vs. Chargers
