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How Houston Texans latest triumph unlocks thrilling, unexpected opportunities
Dec 21, 2023, 2:02 pm
DeMeco Ryans and Nick Caserio could both win prestigious awards. Composite Getty Image.
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I'm the last person to be a prisoner of the moment. I will get caught up in certain moments. Like the time the Saints got hosed on that call against the Rams. I did call it the worst call in NFL playoff history. I still do. At least I'm consistent with that one. Typically, I reel myself in, and reset.
After the Texans beat the Titans, I caught that prisoner of the moment feeling. Some called it the biggest or best or most impressive win in Texans history. I was feeling some of those statements. I stepped back to re-center myself, then came back to the idea. This was a pretty big win. Where it ranks in Texans history, I'm not sure. But I think it was a huge win for other reasons. Two to be exact.
This win was the clinching factor for DeMeco Ryans to win coach of the year, and for Nick Caserio to win executive of the year. When you're missing your two prized rookies in starting quarterback C.J. Stroud and starting defensive end Will Anderson Jr, plus C.J.'s top targets, plus others, and you still pull off a win on the road against a division opponent coming off their biggest win of the season, what do you think should happen?
The team came into this season with little to no real expectations of making the playoffs. Some fans kept the faith and had those wild thoughts. Some would express as much very vigorously, I might add. The overwhelming majority figured they'd win maybe five to seven games at most. They'd been left for dead after previous terrible seasons. Talent was still an issue, even after they'd been on a path to respectability with their recent drafts and free agency findings. Most thought they'd be more competitive under DeMeco but needed more time.
14 games into the season, they're tied for first in the AFC South with three games left. There's a serious shot they make the playoffs. This team was put together over the last few years by Caserio. His previous coaching hires and talent fumbles aside, he's ultimately responsible for the guys on this roster being here. He's also partially responsible for DeMeco being here. Partially because DeMeco has a documented history here as a player. That, and the fact that I believe the McNair's had a lot to do with it also.
DeMeco has completely changed the culture on Kirby. I've seen fans go from despair and pessimism to elation and long-term optimism. Players believe they can beat any other team in front of them. People in the organization have always been pleasant but seem to have a lot more pep in their step. It's a lot more fun when you're winning. What DeMeco did was restore the feeling of what's possible when you believe. Fans, players, staff, they all believe. Getting the players to buy in was easier for him since he's only 39 years old, recently removed from his playing days, has a track record of developing players, and came up the coaching ranks in a successful organization.
The work both guys have put in deserves to be recognized. The Texans have already more wins this season than they had the previous two seasons combined. Some of that was by design, given the state of the franchise a couple of seasons ago. Now, things have been totally turned around. Playoffs are now the expectation moving forward. Nothing else will suffice. There's cap space and a normal allotment of draft capital in the upcoming draft (minus 5th and 6th rounders, but an extra 4th). They have a pick in every round in the '25 draft. Stroud and Anderson Jr are both on rookie deals. Three fifths of the offensive line was re-signed this past offseason. Caserio and DeMeco have built something sustainable that's winning ahead of the schedule most had set for them. For that, they should both be recognized as the best in their respective categories this season.
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When DeMeco Ryans became coach of the Houston Texans before last season, the two-time Pro Bowl linebacker brought his swarm defense with him.
It’s an identity the Texans have embraced as they prepare for their second straight trip to the divisional round of the playoffs Saturday where they’ll face the Kansas City Chiefs.
“You really can’t go out there if you’re not about it,” Ryans said.
And while every member of the defense has bought into Ryans’ aggressive style, there is one player who epitomizes it like no one else.
“Will every time,” cornerback Derek Stingley said of defensive end Will Anderson Jr.
Anderson, last year’s AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, has taken his game to another level this season and had 1½ sacks last week after piling up 11 in the regular season.
He described what playing swarm defense means to him.
“Do whatever it takes to get the ball, attacking the ball,” Anderson said. “We’ve got this saying in our D-line room; ‘who gonna pop it off?’ Whoever pops it off first, that’s swarming. Like who’s gonna make the big play? And I feel like there’s a lot of guys on defense that pop it off, who swarm.”
The Texans intercepted Justin Herbert a career-high four times, including one which was returned for a score, in last week’s win over the Chargers after he had been picked off just three times all season. Houston’s four takeaways in the first week of the playoffs are tied with Philadelphia for most in the NFL.
That performance came after Houston ranked fifth in the league in the regular season by forcing 29 turnovers.
Stingley, who had two of the interceptions last week a day after earning AP All-Pro honors, shared his mindset on the team’s defensive mentality.
“It really just comes down to if I was to tell you this is the last time you’re gonna do something, how you gonna do it,” Stingley said. “It’s simple as that. Just do that every single play.”
Ryans said there’s really no secret to why his team has such a knack for forcing turnovers. He believes it’s because he has good players, and they emphasize it in practice which translates to games.
“That’s our main thing that we go into every week is talking about attacking the football, taking the football,” Ryans said. “Because we know, when you take the football away, it just raises your percentages of winning the football games… it’s the defense helping the team win the game.”
While all of Houston’s takeaways last week came on interceptions, Stingley was quick to point out that those picks wouldn’t have happened if not for the pressure the defensive line put on Herbert. The Texans sacked him four times and hit him another nine in the 32-12 victory.
“The defense starts with them up front,” Stingley said. “They’re doing their job and it just makes it easier for us on the back end.”
Anderson said with each turnover, the defense got more and more amped up and was pushing each other to see who the next player would be to force one.
“That’s just that swarm mentality and we just feeding off each other,” Anderson said. “This person can’t do it by themselves so who is gonna be next and that just generates that contagious energy.”
The Texans were the fifth team since 1963 to have at least four sacks, four interceptions and an interception return for a touchdown in a playoff game last week. The past three teams to do it all went on to win the Super Bowl, with Tampa Bay doing so in the 2002 season, Baltimore in 2000 and San Francisco in 1989.
This Texans team would love to keep that going. But first they’ll need a win Saturday to put them in the AFC championship game for the first time after losing their previous five divisional matchups.
“That’s what you come here for,” Anderson said. “That’s what they’ve been rebuilding for is moments like this… we’ve got all the right pieces, we’ve just got to go out there and make it happen.”