Here is everything Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said Sunday afternoon following the Texans' 19-17 lossagainst the Indianapolis Colts, including his thoughts on the offense, the 0-3 start and where the team can go from here.
Question: With 1:29 left in the game. Why did you guys not make the decision to call a timeout in that situation?
DeMeco Ryans: “For us, it’s an 0-3 start as a team. Wherever we are it all starts with me. So right now, it’s not good enough from our perspective. I liked the way our week went. Our process went well this week. Our guys connected; our guys brought the joyful intensity that I was asking them to bring throughout the week. Today on game day, we came up short today. I’ve got to get back to the drawing board,
and I’ve got to do a better job.”
Q: Why not call a timeout there?
Ryans: “In that situation, I look at all those to see what happened (and) where I can be better.” Q: Along those same lines, on the kickoff deciding to kick it into the end zone, knowing that they only needed a field goal. Was there any discussion to kick it instead into an area to return?
“We kicked it right at the goal line. It got a little bit further than we needed to and it went into the end zonefor a touchback.”
Q: Because of your experience last year, sticking together and going from 0-3. How do you draw upon anything from that to try to turn this page and stack a few wins?
Ryans: “0-3 is where we are right now. The only way we can do anything about it is to go through it. We’re goingthrough it right now, its adversity, it happens. For me, it starts with me. I have to do a better job of gettingour guys ready to roll.” Q: What did you like about your defense today?
Ryans: “The defense did a great job of taking the football away – that’s what we have been missing – someturnovers. We were able to take the ball away three times. The d-line played well at times. They did agood job – what we asked them to do.”
Q: How aware were you of how much time was left and how much time came off before taking a timeout? What was going on around you before you called the timeout?
Ryans: “When I look at it, if I can make a better decision, I’ll look at that and try to see where I can make a betterdecision.”
Q: Is that a solo decision?
Ryans: “I’ve got multiple people, but everything starts with me.” Q: When it comes to the offense today, the Colts have gone up against some good teams. What do you think was going on? What were they doing to you guys? To you guys defensively, what did they do to make it tougher for you guys statistically and just scoring?
Ryans: “Defensively, they did a good job of getting off on third downs. It was difficult for us to sustain drives. Wecouldn't sustain drives. They made plays on third downs. On the flip side, for us defensively, although wetook the ball away and did some good things we couldn't get off the field on third down. Those criticalstops that we needed to get off the field, we didn't get off the field.” Q: Early in the game, you all were in a similar situation like you were last week on fourth-and-one, and you didn't run the same play, but it looked like you ran a similar play to the right side. It got stopped. What went into that decision to go for it there instead of taking the points?
Ryans: “I wanted to press forward. I wanted our guys to finish that drive down with a touchdown there. I believedin the play call that we have, I believed in the guys doing it and it didn’t work our way. Every week we talkabout fourth downs; sometimes it goes your way and it’s great. They converted some fourth downs andwe didn’t.”
Q: Was there any thought at the end of the game to have Ka’imi Fairbairn try to kick the 69-yarder?
Ryans: Was there any thought at the end of the game to have Ka’imi Fairbairn try to kick the 69-yarder?“Yeah, it was a thought to kick it there, but we felt like the best opportunity at that time was to go with theHail Mary play.”
Q: When it comes to the team, the vibe in the locker room and the leadership – what do you expectfrom you guys now? How do you guys turn the page and get this thing rolling?
Ryans: “We keep working. I told the guys everybody is going to come at us, tell us what we should do, what I should do. Everybody has the answers, but the only way we can get through this is us sticking together. I told the guys this week a divided house cannot stand, so we stand together through it all. I'm standing behind our guys, and we'll keep pushing, keep punching and see our way through this.” Q: What are some of the ways that you all can fix some of the inconsistencies on the offensive side of the ball, especially with the up-and-down play of the offensive line?
Ryans: "Yeah, we'll take a look at it and see where we can be better. We'll dive into the film. After this, we’ll dive into the film and see where we can make some improvements and get better.”
Q: I know you said it starts and stops with you. How do you make sense of what has happened, particularly in this game and those first three games?
Ryans: “For me, if we’re 0-3, obviously I haven't coached good enough, right? So, haven’t coached good enough. I’ve got to coach better. If I coach better, we'll find ourselves on the winning side.”
Q: You don't panic at 0-3 because you've been here before, but can you see some changes maybe being made in the next couple of weeks?
Ryans: “We'll see. We'll take 24 hours to get through this one, and then we'll take a deep breath, hit reset andsee where we go from here.” Q: With Mario Edwards Jr. it was said it was a knee injury. Does that look serious? Are you guys concerned about it?
“We’re still evaluating Mario (Edwards Jr.) for the knee. We don't know the extent of the injury just now. We'll get further testing and see where he is.”
Q: What about the play of C.J. Stroud? Especially in the second half, it seemed like he was able to settle in a little bit and get you all some points on the board.
“Yeah, the offense had two really good drives. We were able to drive down and put points on the board. Ithought those were great drives by them.”
Q: From your perspective, how would you assess just how the receivers in this game played without Nico Collins?
“We look at it. I think guys made some plays when we needed to – J-Wayne (Jared Wayne) caught a big one there. J-Noel (Jaylin Noel), Hutch (Xavier Hutchinson) – an outstanding catch by Hutch there to finish to get us in striking distance. (Kayshon) Boutte – KB made a nice play as well. Spreading the football around, different guys catching the ball, making plays.” Q: Any hope of Nico Collins this week? It seems like he’s making some progress.
Ryans: “We’ll see. Nico has been progressing really well, so we'll see how this week goes to see if he can get back out there.”
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans HC DeMeco Ryans said following Week 3 loss to Colts
