After watching the tape, here’s everything Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday on his final thoughts before turning his attention over to Week 5’s matchup against the Tennessee Titans.
Question: On the coverage on the final Dallas Cowboys touchdown in Week 4
DeMeco Ryans: “We can play the coverage better. On that play, they threw the ball short. We have to be tighter; we have to play tighter. We have to finish more aggressively to try to get out the field there.”
Q: On whether there are any specific changes that will be made with player personnel or staff
Ryans: “Nothing specific right now.”
Q:On what has to be done to get back on track
Ryans: “For us, it comes down to playing complimentary football. For that game to go the way it went offensively, it did a lot of great things, scored enough points for us to win. When it comes down to how you play complimentary, how we started the second half. There were special teams, giving up an explosive defense, giving up explosives. A touchdown, where you have so many miscues going on there. That’s not complimentary football. For us to win a game, we got to help each other out. Special teams has to set up the offense, has to set up the defense, vice versa. Defense has to set up the offense to be able to score points. Offense, we get in a situation we need to sustain a drive and keep drives going. We have to get more than three or four plays and out. We have to be able to move the ball a little bit better. When we finally win a game, it’ll be complimentary football being played.”
Q: On CB Kamari Lassiter
Ryans: “After watching Kamari, I thought he was competitive. Kamari is a competitive player. He’s playing competitive and those things happen. Do we want the penalties? No, but he’s playing competitive. He’s playing aggressive and unfortunately had a couple penalties.”
Q: On the defenses struggle to limit explosive plays
Ryans: “For me, it comes down to being where you’re supposed to be, playing technique the proper way on defense. That’s what it all comes down to. A couple times we drop coverage, just poor execution by us defensively, not doing the coverage the proper way.”
Q: On how not playing the coached technique can be frustrating
Ryans: “Not playing with good technique doesn’t sit well at all with us. It’s something that we pride ourselves in, just collectively as a team. You want to play good football, I talk about it all the time. You have to play with great fundamentals and great technique. That’s what wins. You can get into the whole just Rolodex, a call here or there and see what happens, but that’s not the way I see football. You have to coach. You have to coach it the right way. You have to execute it the right way from a coaching perspective. You have to coach it and communicate it the proper way. Then players have to adhere to that and also execute technique and fundamentals the right way as well.”
Q: On last years success compared to this season
Ryans: “For us, it’s easy to talk about last year. We’re here in 2026, we can’t do anything about 2025 here in 2026. For us to improve our team, improve our status of where we are right now, we all have to play better.”
Q: On the possibility of calling defensive plays in the future
Ryans: “We’ll see how all that goes.”
Q: On the coverage on the final Dallas Cowboys touchdown
Ryans: “That last play, we were in a single high, we were in a man coverage there on the last play.”
Q: On the performance from Dallas Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb
Ryans: “For me, it starts with us and what do we control. CeeDee Lamb is an outstanding player. He did a great job versus us, making a ton of plays. I thought Dallas did a really good job of moving him around in different spots, whether it was in the slot, whether it was out at number one, motioning him around, they moved him around a lot of different ways. We had a lot of different guys who were tasked with covering him, whether it was from a zone perspective or from a man perspective; a lot of different things that we were doing and he made a lot of plays on us.”
Q: On whether the offensive line is losing the physicality battle in the run game
Ryans: “There are some matchups in the run game where I feel like we can finish much better up front. I feel like guys are ‘X-ing’ off blocks, finishing blocks and we’re not finishing well in the run game. If we want to run the ball better, we have to strain a little harder, we have to finish a little bit better.”
Q: On what allowed the offense to have explosive plays
Ryans: “Coach [Nick] Caley and our offensive staff came up with a really good game plan. Players executed it well, thought it had really good balance; utilized our first downs to really take a chance of taking some shots down the field. Jaylin Noel came away big with one, ‘Hutch’ was big on first down for us. The key emphasis was winning first down and when we did that, we were able to sustain drives, stay on the field. No bigger one than the first play of the game when C.J. hit Nico [Collins] over the middle of the field for a huge explosive, so I thought Caley did a really good job.”
Q: On how communication errors can be fixed
Ryans: “It’s just making sure everybody understands, first and foremost, what we’re asking to get done and making sure guys can voice that, articulate it and understand what their job is. Then when you’re out there on the field and plays are happening and things are going fast, you still have to be able to use that same communication that you’re doing at practice when things are less stressful. You have to be able to do it in stressful environments in a game. That comes from an urgency to communicate when you’re on the field and also it just makes sure you’re listening and everybody’s on the same page.”
Q: On what can be done to help players communicate and understand technique
Ryans: “I’ll take a look at everything and see where I can help them.”
Q: On whether he is shocked at the start of the season
Ryans: “It’s disappointing from the standpoint of shock, it’s where we are. As I told the guys yesterday, we haven’t done the things necessary to earn a win. When you do those things, you play team football, you play together, that’s when you’ll win. When I go back and I examine the film and watch it, it’s like, ‘Yeah, this is not winning football.’ When we play winning football collectively, then we’ll be in a better spot.”
Q: On whether he expects any players from the Reserve/Injured list or Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list to become available
Ryans: “This week, we expect to open the window for Tank Dell, for Braden Smith and for Kayden McDonald.”
Q: On playing more bump and run coverages
Ryans: “Yeah, we run all those coverages.”
Q: On playing more press coverage
Ryans: “We’ve used all those coverages.”
Q: On how to fix the team’s current standing
Ryans: “Again, I just take a deep dive, take a look at everything to see how can we help. How can I help everybody just be a little bit better? That’s my role, that’s my job. Of course, we don’t want to be where we are, but this is it, we’re here. How do you fix it? It’s just everybody continuing to come together to whatever that communication miscue may be. Let’s find a way to eliminate it, whatever that technique may be. Whatever call we make, offensively, defensively, special teams, let’s go out and make sure we’re coaching it great. Make sure we’re playing it great, executing it in a great way and we do that together, that’s how we do it. We don’t get into pointing a finger here or there, talking about this particular coverage or this particular play call. We just all stick together and we execute what we think is best for us to go out and win a football game. A lot of people put a lot of work in, coaches and players. A lot of great things happened in that game. We can go through and try to pick a lot of the poor moments, but there’s a lot of great things that happen in the game. Brevin Jordan being back for the first time in two years, being back and making an explosive play for us. C.J.’s playing exceptionally well, making great decisions, getting the ball around to a lot of different people. Offense is scoring 30 points. The guys are doing a lot of good things. Guys are getting better in our return game. Special teams-wise, guys are blocking a little bit better. We’re returning it better. There’s a lot of positive things for me as I watch our team and they’re tracking the right way of improving and getting better. No one wants to hear that, but that’s where we are. We’re getting better. We just have to find a way to go and close the game out. So guys can feel the joy of what it feels like to win a game. It’s been a long time and it’s a great feeling when you can win a football game. I want our guys to get that feeling.”
Q: On losing multiple close games
Ryans: “This is the NFL for me. If you’re nervous about it, you have to ask those players or the coaches if somebody is nervous. I love these moments. This is what NFL is about. It’s the big boy league for a reason. This is what you get paid for, to be in those moments. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of games that come down to the last two minutes of the football game. You have to find a way to close it out. The games aren’t going to tell you, that’s how they’re going to be. We’ve been in three of them this year where it could have gone the other way or we could have been on the winning side of that. But we didn’t make the necessary plays. We didn’t make the necessary calls. Whatever it may be, we didn’t find a way to win those games. It’s always going to be close and you have to find a way to get it done.”
Q: On only one 0-4 team making the playoffs in NFL history
Ryans: “I’m not concerned about it right now. I’m concerned about finding a way to play better, coach better and go beat the Tennessee Titans.”
Q: On if there is any player expected to make a return
Ryans: “Once you open that 21-day window, you have to see how guys respond to practice. This would be the first time that all those guys were back out practicing. We see how they respond, how their week goes and then we’ll see what happens on Sunday.”
Q: On LB Kenneth Murray wearing the green dot for the defense
Ryans: “Kenneth did a really great job this entire week. He was prepared; he was ready to go. Saw him continue to get better with communication as the week went forward. He was making plays left and right throughout practice. He did a really great job. The coaches did a really good job preparing him. It was cool to watch him own that opportunity. Talk about guys owning an opportunity when someone’s out, you go earn it and he did a great job. It was just unfortunate that he had to leave the game with a concussion there towards the end of the game because he was doing a really good job for us.”
Q: On staying confident and optimistic about the season
Ryans: “I’m a very optimistic guy. That’s how I operate. I don’t know any other way. Yeah, we can easily be 3-1. We’re not. Let’s find a way to go make those plays. Let’s find a way to go get it done. That’s my mindset and that’s how it always will be. Next matchup is up. We didn’t do it. So we, of course, I have to talk to you guys about it, but we didn’t get it done. I’m back to work, see how we can find a way to get it done this week.”
Q: On if it’s more difficult to spread joyful intensity while the team is losing
Ryans: “Only if you allow it to. It’s not for me. That’s who I am, so we have to keep working. If you hold your head and you’re down on yourself, down on your team, teammates, coaches, then what’s your outlook? Nobody’s packing it in. We’re still coming to work trying to find a way to get a win. The other team we’re playing, they don’t care about it, so we have to go. This is the NFL. Just because you have to get out of your feelings, it’s not about how you feel, it’s about how you go out and perform on Sundays. We have to go coach better, perform better on Sundays and we’ll be still standing here with a smile on our face next week.”
Q: On how to control the penalties
Ryans: “It’s really a fine line when it comes to the penalties. Some of them I see as aggressive penalties that are, you’re within the play. It’s bang-bang play. We got one with Kamari, they called illegal contact. It’s a tough spot to be in. I think both guys have to have their spot. They’re challenging each other there. You get some penalties for me, it’s the decision-making penalties. When you’re blocking a guy in their back, when you’re holding a guy at the point of attack, those things or we’re false starting. Those are penalties that I think that are just not necessary and they can’t happen. All of those are controllable. We control those things. Some bang-bang penalties are going to happen within a game, but anytime you go in a game and we’re starting with three penalties on kick return, two penalties on our offensive first down. That’s just from alignment, knowing the snap count; those things can’t happen.”
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: After Further Review: Texans HC DeMeco Ryans recaps loss to Dallas Cowboys
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