The Houston Texans are hours away from facing the New England Patriots for the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. If the Battle Red beat the Patriots, the squad coached by DeMeco Ryans will become the first NFL team to start a season 0-3 and make it into the Conference Championship Game.
A significant portion of the Texans' success is attributed to Ryans’ management of this team; it’s not easy to achieve a back-to-back playoff scenario without your primary wide receiver and numerous injuries along the way, not to mention starting the season with three straight losses.
In a recent interview, Texans wide receiver Christian Kirk had only words of praise for the Texans' coach.
Christian Kirk: “DeMeco Ryans has shaped the team's culture.”
During an interview on the Rich Eisen Show, Christian Kirk discussed DeMeco Ryans leadership and how it has been for the former Jacksonville Jaguar since moving to Houston.
“From a leadership aspect, I think the accountability piece is the thing that jumps out to me. You know, and as a coach, he just does such a good job.”
It’s not the first time that a player says this about their coach. If you watch the sidelines during games, attend press conferences, or see post-game locker room videos, you can observe Ryans' attitude toward his players.
Everybody loves him, and by watching him in practice, you can see the heart and effort he puts into bonding the team to work not as a group, but as a family.
That’s why, after C.J. Stroud struggled in a tough game against the Steelers on Monday Night Football, DeMeco Ryans and his teammates rallied around their quarterback and supported him in the post-game interviews.
He completely shaped the culture around the Texans, and Christian Kirk not only knows it, but also told Rich Eisen that Ryans changed the entire team's mentality and made them believe in the ultimate goal of a Super Bowl:
“Establishing the culture and, you know, everybody's bought into it. You know, from the janitors to the kitchen staff to the assistant, I mean, everybody has the same mentality. Everybody is here. That was the one thing that really jumped out to me when I first got here: everybody's here to help get us to our ultimate goal, and that's to win a championship.”
When you have players who believe in their coach, and everyone is in the same direction, it is not easy to stop them and prevent them from reaching their goal.
The Texans are three games away from a ring, and DeMeco Ryans knows he must continue on this same path so this success isn’t just a moment, but a reality in Houston.