INDIANAPOLIS – DeMeco Ryans embraces the chess match of coaching, the extremely fun part where his intellect and strategy defines the competition against rival coaches.
The game within the game.
What separates and defines the Texans coach, though, is how he has adapted his leadership style to deal with all of the other things outside of the X’s and O’s realm.
As a head coach, so many things come across Ryans’ desk on a daily basis. That includes adjusting to injuries with the care of the players as the first priority. There are daily conversations with general manager Nick Caserio about the state of the roster.
Players are people who deal with personal or family issues throughout the year. That involves helping them through whatever they might be dealing with behind the scenes, including their mental health. There are countless decisions, many of them unknown to the general public that transpire on a daily basis.
It’s a lot of moving parts, and a great deal of responsibility. Within all of that, Ryans’ job is to win football games. And Ryans has guided the Texans to consecutive AFC South division titles and back into playoff contention after a rocky, winless start to the season. Since losing the first three games, the Texans have won six of their past eight heading into a pivotal AFC South showdown Sunday against the division leading Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
For Ryans, 41, a former Pro Bowl linebacker and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year for the Texans and the architect of the top-ranked defense in the league, it’s about moving the team forward in the right direction and hitting the right tone in terms of motivational skills. A lot of thought and introspection and prayer goes into it all for Ryans, a deeply religious man of faith. Change and a willingness to change are the watchwords.
“At the end of the day, it’s just me just trying to not just stay stagnant,” Ryans told KPRC 2 on Friday afternoon. “I think that’s the biggest thing as a leader that you’re not just status quo, copy and paste everything that you’ve done in the past. So, always looking for different ways to push the ball, push the envelope a little bit, see how I can get better, how I can push others to be better, players, coaches, everybody.”
The Texans’ rough start was a difficult road to walk. Despite an offseason devoted to overhauling the offensive line, including trading five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders, and replacing his friend, Bobby Slowik, as offensive coordinator with first-time play-caller Nick Caley, things weren’t working. The offense, which remains a work in progress even during a current three-game winning streak, wasn’t clicking.
The Texans ultimately fired starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson after friction behind the scenes arose along with an unwillingness to play within the defensive scheme.
Ryans delegated a bit with the staff, too. Defensive coordinator Matt Burke is calling plays now while working in collaboration with Ryans on how to attack opposing offenses. The Texans relentlessly chased and caught up with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, sacking him eight times in a win at NRG Stadium. They’re allowing just 16.5 points per game, second-fewest in the NFL.
After losing five one-score games earlier this season, the Texans are learning how to win the close battles. They won three consecutive one-score games with backup quarterback Davis Mills standing in as the replacement when starter C.J. Stroud suffered a concussion. Now, Stroud is back under center Sunday against the Colts.
The Texans have navigated difficult times this season and have leaned heavily on their defense. Even in the win against the Bills, the offense struggled. They had just 34 yards of total offense in the second half. Without the three turnovers forced by safety Calen Bullock, the Texans likely don’t pick up that clutch win. Nothing has come easy for the Texans. They’ve had to earn it all every step of the way.
“I think our guys have done a fairly decent job of understanding where we were at the start, we didn’t finish games the proper way,“ Ryans said. ”Guys have buckled down, we’ve done the things necessary to win games. That’s finishing in the end, so I’m proud of them. And they understand, you need that adversity, you need those rough moments to see what it looks like to have to do it the right way, doing it as best you possibly can to put yourself in a winning column.”
Ryans has a 26-19 all-time record in the regular season and is 2-2 in the playoffs for a 28-21 overall mark.
A former NFL Assistant Coach of the Year with the San Francisco 49ers hired by popular acclaim by Cal McNair on Jan. 31, 2023, Ryans signed a six-year contract.
Under his tenure, the Texans immediately won the division and returned to the playoffs.
The success of the first two seasons of the Ryan era raised expectations significantly. The Texans openly discussed their Super Bowl ambitions and established a goal of going beyond the AFC divisional round where they’re 0-6 all-time as a franchise.
When the Texans got off to a tough start, there was heavy criticism of the offense. For the first time in his football and coaching career, Ryans was criticized.
Throughout it all, Ryans’ wife, Jamila, watched him handle all of the adversity and navigate the ups and downs.
“My husband’s biggest reason for coaching is to bless others,” Jamila Ryans said during a community event at the Houston Texans YMCA with the family’s charitable foundation partnering with Stroud’s foundation and mother, Kimberly Stroud, to hand out meals to Houston families in need before Thanksgiving. “It’s not to coach football. To him, it’s not about that. Football is a platform for him. And in that platform, he is going to bless others.
“He’s going to spread the gospel. He is going to raise men, build men. And it’s not about the X’s and O’s. The X’s and O’s is the vehicle through which he’s able to do these things. So, again, the X’s and O’s is why we are able to bless, you know, other people And that’s the most important part about what he does and what we do. I’m extremely proud of our team. I’m very proud of my husband.”
This season, in particular, has challenged Ryans and the entire organization.
Playing a first-place schedule has tested the Texans’ resolve.
Despite the ups and downs, the Texans are now in position to potentially return to the postseason. This is a critical stretch with two games against the Colts, including Sunday, and next week against the Kansas City Chiefs, the team that beat them in the divisional round last season at Arrowhead Stadium.
Ryans is the tone-setter for the Texans. People look to him to lead the way and be willing and capable of being the change that’s necessary to have real growth as a team. At home, he’s a family man as a husband and father of four children.
“My husband, I’ve watched him this year really grow into the role and become a leader, the leader that we all know he can be,” Jamila Ryans said. “But he’s had to shift. He’s had to continue to uplift and encourage the building and the players. And just watching him do that has just been the most amazing thing for my family. because he’s been an excellent example for our four kids.
“This year, in particular, I have watched him grow as a leader. And that has been the most beautiful thing. I am proud of the team as well because they listen to him. They trust him, and they will do what he asks them to do. And I think that is a sign of a great leader. And I’m so proud of the guys because I’m watching them also grow not only as players on the field but as men.”
On Sunday, Ryans will match wits with the Colts’ top-ranked offense led by coach Shane Steichen.
Steichen is known for his ability to put defenses in vulnerable situations with how he schemes up plays and uses his personnel groupings. The offense, headlined by quarterback Daniel Jones and star running back Jonathan Taylor, isn’t an easy task to stop for any defense.
The Texans aren’t just any defense, though, with their elite bookend pass rushing tandem of Will Anderson Jr., and Danielle Hunter, lockdown corners Derek Stingley Jr. and Kamari Lassiter and middle linebacker and defensive signal caller Azeez Al-Shaair.
“Shane is a very smart coach,” Ryans said. “He does a really good job of designing scheme plays to attack you defensively. He knows how to get his guys in position. He knows how to test your rules defensively. A really smart play-caller, always kind of a step ahead. So, you have to be on it each and every snap.”
These are the fun moments. Ryans can’t wait for gameday when he dons his headset and dials up his defense that was ranked first with the 49ers and is atop the league again this year.
“I love the chess match,” Ryans said. “That’s the beauty of the game. That’s what I enjoy most about it. It’s the chess match. You’re trying to figure out what they’re doing. They’re trying to figure out what you’re doing. That’s the beauty of coaching on gameday, being in that chess match.”
Ryans built his reputation as a cerebral leader as a standout player and applied that deep knowledge of football and coaching acumen with the 49ers and now with the Texans.
Since being hired by the Texans, Ryans has grown his relationships with players with an authentic and fun approach to the game.
He regularly celebrates with the guys after big plays, running up and down the sideline. His obvious enthusiasm is impossible to hold in.
“Man, he’s like a player,” Texans Pro Bowl defensive end and team captain Will Anderson Jr. said. “I say it all the time, man, it’s like the energy that he brings is so contagious.
“The way he celebrates with us, it’s like he’s out there making plays with us. I 100% truly believe that when one of us makes a play, he feels like he’s making a play. So, I think that’s what makes it special in him being the head coach.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com
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