Here’s everything Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said ahead of Thursday’s matchup against the Buffalo Bills, including an update on C.J. Stroud and Jalen Pitre, defending Josh Allen and how preparing for a game on a short week could limit needed adjustments.
Question: On the team’s injury updates
DeMeco Ryans: “With the short week, just to update, as of right now, C.J. [Stroud] and Jalen [Pitre] are still in the concussion protocol. I think it’s looking good to have Ka’imi [Fairbairn] back this week, so we’ll see how that goes. With C.J. and Jalen, again, we got to see how the week goes. When they’re in their concussion protocol, there are steps they have to pass to be available. So, we’ll see how it goes for them this week.”
Q: On how he handle injuries
Ryans: “We’re hopeful for C.J. to get back healthy, that’s the first thing, the most important thing. For me, in my spot, I just have to deal with it based on when they pass the steps they need to pass. If they are available, then being able to see them on the field, see them get reps and see how that goes. But as of right now, it’s nothing that I can do from my seat here. I’m just praying for those guys to just get back healthy.”
Q: On the Buffalo Bills’ performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Ryans: “The Bills are a really, really good team. Coach [Sean] McDermott’s done a great job since he’s been there. They’re always a contender, play great defense, of course, they have a great quarterback in Josh Allen, who can make any type of play you need him to make. So, it’s a challenging opponent coming up this Thursday for us. We’re up for the challenge, as always, as [with] every opponent, so we’re looking forward to it. They’ve done a really good job up front running the football. Josh can move around and make those plays. You have to cover him twice for sure, with his scramble ability. He’s done a good job of mixing up some QB run game as well. He does a good job of that, escaping the pocket and making plays. We have to do a much better job defensively of controlling that because we’ve let a few players get out on us when we allowed the quarterback to scramble, so it’ll be a really big challenge for us defensively. The offensive side, for us, they’re fast defense, they run, they hit, they play fast, they play physical, their sound and their assignments, they’re going to be where they’re supposed to be, not a ton of bust on their tape. They play together, they play fast, so we have to do a good job of trying to sustain drives as best we can. Winning on third down will be key for us. We didn’t do a great job on third down this past week, so that’ll be key. Then we have to finish drives in the red zone. [Red zone] hasn’t been great for us on both sides, so we’ve got to do a great job of finishing drives, defensively and offensively in the red zone.”
Q: On how he’s learned as a head coach to approach games on a short week
Ryans: “What the short week is, for me, what I’ve learned most is don’t talk about how much of a short week it is. Everybody goes in, it’s a short week, we get it. Let’s wrap it up and let’s go. Everybody has the same amount of time. Let’s do what we have to do to go out and have ourselves physically and mentally prepared to go play.”
Q: On the connection between QB Davis Mills and WR Nico Collins
Ryans: “Davis and Nico, they’ve done it before and they continue to do it. They’re doing a good job. Davis is doing a good job of finding the right guy, throw it down there to No. 12 and he’s going to make a big play for us. Those guys are doing a really great job and it’s no bigger play than the 3rd-and-16, the play that Nico makes. The catch, to be able to get both feet down, it’s an outstanding play. Great job by Davis of giving them an opportunity to finish that play in bounds. When we needed a spark, we needed to get going. We started to feed the ball to our best player, Nico and he showed up and showed why he’s one of the best receivers in the league.”
Q: On TE Dalton Schultz
Ryans: “Dalton continues to play really great football for us. To get the drive started, there in the two-minute [drill], was a huge play in the two-minute drive that doesn’t get talked about a lot. But that was big for us to get going and he’s made play after play for us, each game. Dalton shows up in critical moments, making plays, and he’s fighting through, as everybody is at this time, fighting through injuries and things of that nature, but he continues to scrap, he continues to battle. It’s important to him to go out and play his best for his teammates and he shows that. He puts it on the line every single week, and I’m proud of the toughness and grit that he’s showing.”
Q: On RB Woody Marks’ performance against the Tennessee Titans and the challenges the run game faced in Sunday’s game
“The challenges in the run game are [T’Vondre] Sweat and [Jeffrey] Simmons. It’s tough to run against those guys and we had our hands full. We knew that going in, but we were able to turn out some yardage here and there. We didn’t hit a ton of explosives in the run game, but I thought we, for the most part, we did okay. Still some yards to be had out there, but we can do an even better job of finishing some blocks and running it better.”
Q: On DE Will Anderson Jr.
Ryans: “Let’s keep it going Will! He’s doing a fantastic job of not only disrupting the quarterback, but being in position to get the quarterback down, to take the football, making game-changing plays. That’s who Will Anderson is. We hope that streak continues.”
Q: On how to improve the red zone defense
Ryans: “Defensively, in the red zone, we’ve got to make the play. We’ve got to be where we’re supposed to be, and we have to make the play. That’s it in the red zone. There’s no other way around it. I always tell our guys, at any given point in a game, ‘You’re going to have a one-on-one opportunity and it’s your job to go make the play.’ When you’re in position, you have to finish and make the play. We’ve been there a lot of times in the red zone defensively and we have not made the play. So, we’ve got to get on the right side of that. We’ve got to finish better.”
Q: On how to defend Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen
Ryans: “When you’re playing against Josh Allen, everybody just has to remain disciplined, especially as we’re rushing our rush lanes. Everybody has to rush with integrity. This quarterback can escape the pocket anywhere. So, you have to have awareness and remain disciplined for four quarters. If you get out of a gap, if you fall asleep on a play you’re not playing with awareness, that’s when he can gut you. So, you just have to play with awareness for four quarters. You can never let up.”
Q: On how he prepares the game plan to get WR Jaylin Noel more involved
Ryans: “I want Jaylin Noel in there more, getting more opportunities. Sometimes how the game goes, whether it’s run plays… We have different personnel groupings for different plays that we’re running. So, it just also depends on the flow of the game. Of course, everybody wants him in more. We want this guy in more. We understand that. We’re trying to get as many guys opportunities as we can, and that’s a good problem to have. We have a lot of good guys in that receiver room that can go and make plays for us and that have shown that they can make plays for us at any given moment of the game.”
Q: On the offensive line’s performance against the Tennessee TitansRyans: “I thought the offensive line did a good job. I thought they did a good job. For the first time having that group out there, they worked well together and did some really good things.”
Q: On how he feels about communication with his staff on when to throw the challenge flag
Ryans: “It’s been good. The one that we challenged there [against the Tennessee Titans], of course, the guy didn’t, looking back at it, we didn’t complete the catch through. We didn’t survive the ground. So, looking back at it, probably shouldn’t have thrown it, but I feel like the guys saw something that I didn’t see up top and that’s why… In the first half there, it’s not like we’re losing the timeout. It’s not as big of a deal as it would be, say, in the second half when the timeouts are very critical.”
Q: On DT Tommy Togiai
Ryans: “Tommy [Togiai], our most consistent player inside. He makes play after play, whether it’s run game, the awareness. If we have to send him on the field late to go bat a pass down, he can do that as well. But Tommy, he’s consistent because he does it right. He does exactly what we’re asking him to do. It may not be flashy to a lot of people, but consistency is what I’m about and that’s what makes a good professional football player, the consistency at which you operate down-in and down-out and you know what to expect. You know what you’re going to get from Tommy and he shows up every week making big play after big play for us.”
Q: On the effects that close wins have on a team
Ryans: “Well, when you have wins like that, you would like to hope that it would continue to spark some confidence in our guys and continue to help us to push forward. But as I know, I’m just a realist, each game is its own game. You got to go out and do the things necessary that it takes to win those games. There isn’t any magical elixir that comes out like, ‘Oh, you guys finished because this certain thing happened.’ No, you just got to go finish games, you got to execute the right way and you got to make big plays in those critical moments.”
Q: On if he looks at the AFC playoff standings every day
Ryans: “We just find a way to win. Those standings really don’t matter right now at this point. What matters is, however the standings look, I know what improves the standings is winning. So, my focus is on doing everything I can possibly do to help our team be in a position to win this game this week. The standings and all those things, they will take care of themselves.”