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Buffalo comes to Reliant Stadium on Sunday with a new head coach in Joe Brady, a new offensive coordinator in Pete Carmichael Jr. and a new defensive coordinator in Jim Leonhard. That is a lot of unknown for an offense to open a season against, and Johnny asked DeMeco Ryans how you keep from inventing problems that may never show up. "That chasing ghosts is famous for everyone," Ryans said. "You're seeking things and you're searching deep for things that could happen, that may happen, but you have no idea. That's why you call them ghosts." He admitted he does it too, going back through Denver film because of where Leonhard and Carmichael came from. But there's a line. "You don't want to cloud players' minds with a ton of information that we think could happen," he said. "We prepared a lot of days in triple-digit heat. We prepared the right way. Now you just have to trust that training."
Four Captains Who Lead With Their Hearts
Captains were announced that morning: C.J. Stroud, Jalen Pitre, Will Anderson Jr. and Azeez Al-Shaair. Ryans lit up on all four. On Pitre: "If I'm going to wear a jersey, it's Jalen Pitre's jersey. It's fun watching Jalen play, but watch him doing it in practice, and watch how consistent he is." On Anderson: "You talk about the heartbeat of our team." And on Al-Shaair, who he's coached since 2019: "He's that coach on the field. He's that big brother in the locker room. He's that voice of reason." Then he tied it together. "It's genuine that those guys lead with their hearts first. It makes my job a lot easier when you have captains of their caliber."
Manvel to the 53
Two undrafted rookies made the initial 53, and Ryans explained exactly how. "I showed a play of Collin Wright every day, intercepting the football or getting the pass breakup," he said. "Where's my Collin clip? I know it's on here somewhere every day." Sabastian Harsh did it a different way: "He dominated the practice, and then he went out in a game and he did the same thing."
Wright joined us in studio and credited the room. "I watched so much of Sting and Kamari even before they knew me," he said of Derek Stingley Jr. and Kamari Lassiter. He also went completely dark on social media through camp. "So many different influences can mess with your head," the Manvel product said. "Just being able to focus on my work every day, I think it helped me a lot."
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