The head coach came into the studio earlier this week with his usual pep-in-the-step. He smiled, said hello and we began his show. I expected nothing different.
DeMeco Ryans always brings a positive energy to every room he walks into. I asked him how his team meeting goes after a game like the Texans had against the Bills.
"I put up what were our keys to victory." he said. "And I can check off things we didn't do. My number one thing defensively was to eliminate explosive plays. If we go into a game and don't do the number one thing we were expected to do, how do we expect to win the football game."
"There are plenty of clips as well of us doing it right. We do it the right way, they don't get explosive plays, we win on third down, we force them to punt the football. It's about being consistent."
No one in the building is going to panic, just work. You sense an urgency to prove that Sunday's issues were correctable and extremely rare.
It's not like the next opponent doesn't possess the same, if not better weaponry to do the same kind of damage. Cincinnati basically has two number one receivers in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Plus, TE Mike Gesicki will be eager to attempt a Dalton Kincaid impression against the Houston secondary.
Coach Ryans is now 1-3 in season openers. His group was 0-3 last year yet finished with 12 wins, tying an all-time best. The 2023 team was 3-4 and finished 10-7. He has the best winning percentage in Texans history because he knows how to get the best out of his squad through the course of an entire season.
"Each year, you build a new team and you have to see how everyone is going to respond when we get in adverse situations – who's going to step up and make those plays. We learned a lot this first week. We can fix those things. We move forward and allow this game to make us better."
This was not the start they wanted but now It's week two and we've got a big journey ahead of us. The Bengals will be a huge challenge. They forced four turnovers against Tampa Bay and are looking to showcase a defense they've put a lot of offseason effort into.
The Texans will be ready on September 20. Another great home atmosphere awaits.
