HOUSTON — NRG Stadium played host to the Jacksonville Jaguars demolishing the Houston Texans 31-3 on Jan. 1 in the last home game of the regular season. It was another layer of stench to the Texans’ 2-13-1 record to that point.
The Texans sought to remove the gloominess inside NRG Stadium with new coach DeMeco Ryans as they complete the rebuild. The excitement around Houston was tacit confirmation. The fans excited to see Ryans patrol the sidelines, rookie C.J. Stroud drop back, and Will Anderson rush off the edge indicated the energy was returning to NRG Stadium.
Most wanted a win to build momentum heading into the final preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. However, fans witnessed a team that looked very unprepared and made fundamental football mistakes on their way to being routed 28-3 by the Miami Dolphins.
“It all starts with me,” said Ryans at his postgame press conference. “When you put a performance out there like that, it all starts with me, and it wasn’t good enough. That’s me internally.
“I wasn’t good enough today for our team, so we’ll go back to the drawing board and look for myself to improve and get better to make sure I lead this team, that we put out a much better outing, especially in front of our home crowd. It’s not representative of what I want for the Texans, and we’ll get it corrected.”
“With the run defense overall, it’s not representative of who we need to be on defense,” said Texans HC DeMeco Ryans after losing to the Miami Dolphins 28-3 on Saturday. #Texans #Sarge @TheTexansWire pic.twitter.com/RbNKZsIMqW
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) August 20, 2023
Ryans being back at NRG Stadium had a nostalgic feel, but so did the memories of last year’s run defense in this game. Houston finished last in stopping the run in 2022 with 170.2 yards per game. On Saturday, they allowed five runs for over 10 yards to the Dolphins, with backup running back Salvon Ahmed producing three of them as he finished the game with 99 of Miami’s 205 rushing yards.
“With the run defense overall, it’s not representative of who we need to be on defense,” Ryans said. “It all starts with the fundamentals first. First, we have to set the edge.
“The ball got outside way too many times, and it comes down to tackling. The tackling was not good enough. If we want to be a good defense, we have to tackle, and that showed up tonight that it wasn’t good enough. That starts with me getting that corrected.”
