DeMeco Ryans understands how importance the bye week is.
As a former player, the week off represents a chance to heal the body. As a coach, the open date offers a chance to renew the mind.
There would be no better accelerator for the Houston Texans than to get a win going into their Week 7 bye, which is what Ryans emphasized all week leading up to their encounter with the New Orleans Saints Sunday at NRG Stadium.
“It’s something we talked about all week is just finishing, finishing this week 3-3,” Ryans said. “We know our team is continuing to improve, continuing to get better, but it was very important for us to finish with a win this week before heading into our bye week.”
The Texans can fly the mission accomplished banner as they vanquished the Saints 20-13 thanks to C.J. Stroud’s two touchdown passes and an impressive 0-3 red zone denial rate from Houston’s defense. The Saints had to settle for four Blake Grupe field goals, two of which he missed.
Houston hasn’t been at least .500 since 2019. The last time the club was technically 3-3 was in 2018. The only players still on the roster from the 2018 team are long snapper Jon Weeks and kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn.
The rest of the roster didn’t have to suffer as long as they did, even the first six weeks of the 2023 campaign was enough. With Houston straddling the fence going into their bye week, the mood is eligible to shift on Kirby Drive.
“You can enjoy your bye week a little bit better off of a win,” said Ryans. “Definitely still things to clean up and we understand that. On all three phases there are a lot of things we can clean up. But it’s a lot easier to clean things up with a win.”
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