Tag: Texans coach

Texans’ DeMeco Ryans says rookie Brian Cushing made him want to be a coach

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans says that mentoring rookie Brian Cushing is what sparked in him a desire to be an NFL coach.

DeMeco Ryans has a list of individuals he can thank for helping him become the Houston Texans coach, and one of them is Brian Cushing.

The former 2009 first-round linebacker was the impetus for Ryans wanting to get involved in coaching while he was with the Texans.

“When I first thought about coaching, it was while I was playing,” Ryans said. “While I played, I was always interested into the development and the delivery of people around me. When I saw young Brian Cushing coming in as a rookie and being able to work with him and to help him alongside me, I wanted to make sure that Brian was the best that he could be because I knew if I poured into him everything that I knew and I helped him, if he was playing his best, I was playing my best, and we all played our best, then I knew we would deliver wins.”

The development of Cushing paid off as the USC product generated 133 combined tackles, 4.0 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles, four interceptions, 10 pass breakups, and a safety in his 16 starts as a rookie. Cushing earned a Pro Bowl and was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Cushing wasn’t the only young linebacker that Ryans mentored in his career, as Jordan Hicks was another such product with the Philadelphia Eagles, where Ryans closed out his career from 2012-15.

“The reason I got into coaching was to help players,” said Ryans. “That’s the only reason I got into coaching. I was able to get that opportunity out in San Francisco after playing.”

Kyle Shanahan, who was on the Texans’ staff in a variety of capacities from 2006-09, hired Ryans as a defensive quality control coach in 2017, Shanahan’s first season with the 49ers. It was Ryans’ first coaching gig after being off football for a year.

Said Ryans: “I sat out for a year, and I was able to go out there, and it was truly about just helping others. That’s what I want to do here with our guys is just developing our young men, developing the players to be the best players they can be on the field, but also I want to develop men to be the best men off the field. Develop great husbands, great fathers, great community men. That’s what coaching is to me. It’s about the development and delivery of men.”

Ultimately Ryans wants to deliver to Houston its first Super Bowl win.

“We want to develop a great team here that we can deliver wins to the city of Houston,” Ryans said. “We want to deliver a championship here to the city of Houston, and that’s what it will be about.”

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3 Houston Texans possibilities that excite DeMeco Ryans

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans outlined three areas that excite him about the team.

DeMeco Ryans is excited to go to work as the Houston Texans coach.

The 38-year-old is appreciative of his predecessors — from Dom Capers to Lovie Smith.

“When I look at this organization and all of the great men who have come before me to lead this organization, all of the great head coaches who have been here, it’s an honor just to follow those men; a lot of great men,” Ryans said.

Ryans, who was with the Texans from 2006-11 and played 86 career games for Houston, is not blind to how putrid they have been the past three seasons with consecutive double-digit losing campaigns. They have also taken punches to their reputation with a high profile quarterback demanding a trade — amid a personal conduct scandal no less — and firing three coaches from 2020-22.

“We know we have a lot of work to do,” said Ryans. “We have to win. We want to build the right staff. We want to get the right players, so we can go out and win and compete. That’s when the excitement continues, and that’s what we want to bring.”

Here are three areas which excite Ryans about the Texans.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans ‘still working through’ who will call defensive plays

New coach DeMeco Ryans says they are “still working through” the process of identifying who should call defensive plays for the Houston Texans.

Lovie Smith declared in his introductory press conference he would be calling plays for the 2022 Houston Texans.

DeMeco Ryans didn’t have an answer in his introductory presser as to who will be the defensive play-caller for the 2023 version.

“When it comes to the calling plays, we’re still working through that,” Ryans said. “Whether I’ll call plays or not, haven’t made that decision yet.”

Part of the decision involves who exactly is following Ryans to Houston. The Texans are still assembling a staff for their sixth full-time coach in team history. What Ryans does know is he wants a diverse staff.

Ryans was naturally the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive play-caller when he was the defensive coordinator for the past two seasons. Such was the case with the 49ers as coach Kyle Shanahan was from an offensive background, and it only made sense for the defensive coordinator to call the plays.

With the Texans going with a defensive-minded coach for the second time in as many seasons, play-calling remaining part of the coach’s duties would not be surprising.

Regardless of who the Texans settle on as defensive play-caller, Ryans will bring energy to the sidelines.

Said Ryans: “It’s just naturally, like, when you see guys work so hard throughout the week, within those 60 plays you may get for a guy to make that one play, that one interception or that one tackle for loss, one sack, we’re going to be fired up about it because I know how hard, or I know the hard work and I know how hard it is to make those plays. So, yeah, I’m excited for my players because I know the work that they put in.”

Having a coach who knows how hard his players work means he will work equally as hard identifying whose play calls maximize that effort.

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DeMeco Ryans isn’t putting all of the Texans’ eggs in the quarterback basket

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans believes the team needs to be strong enough to handle fluctuations at QB and not base the team around the position.

The Houston Texans have had problems at quarterback since 2021. It may be their most fundamental problem.

However, new coach DeMeco Ryans won’t let the position define them, even though he is aware of the deficiencies therein.

“We have one quarterback here on our roster, and we have to add more at that position,” Ryans said. “We know everybody gets excited about the quarterback. The quarterback is one piece to a team.”

Davis Mills has had the thankless job of taking snaps under center for the hapless Texans over the past two years. The former 2020 third-rounder has a 5-19-1 record with a career 83.3 passer rating. With two years remaining on his rookie contract, Mills may be relegated to backup as the Texans seek other options at quarterback, including using their No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

Ryans isn’t looking for a quarterback to solve all of Houston’s problems. Although Mills gets tagged with a 5-19-1 record for the past two years, the Texans went 7-26-1. Tyrod Taylor and Kyle Allen were hardly better as they compiled a 2-7 record apart from Mills.

Said Ryans: “How do you build around that quarterback? Yes, we want a great quarterback, but no, we need a great offensive line to protect the quarterback. We need great running backs, great tight ends, great receivers. We need a great defense, special teams. We all play together. That’s the awesome part about football is it’s not on one guy’s shoulders to go out there and win the game for us. It’s all about building around each other and playing together. That’s how we’ll win games.”

The San Francisco 49ers, where Ryans started out his NFL coaching career in 2017, is a prime example of a team that didn’t implode due to complications at quarterback.

“As I’ve seen in San Francisco, what happens when you don’t have that one guy,” said Ryans. “Is the season over? Are you just booking it? No.”

The Texans seek to employ the same model of team building under Ryans.

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Texans coach DeMeco Ryans defines what he wants in his coaching staff

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans laid out what he is looking for as he assembles his new coaching staff.

DeMeco Ryans is all about diversity.

The new Houston Texans coach has made diversity an emphasis when he assembles his coaching staff for the 2023 season.

“We want a very diverse coaching staff, and that’s not only diversity in race, but diversity in experience,” said Ryans. “We want experienced coaches, some coaches not so much experience.”

Even though Ryans’ coaching staff will be replete with diversity, there will be a couple unifying traits about all the assistants.

“We want coaches who are great teachers,” Ryans said. “That’s the one thing we are looking for most importantly is great teachers. We want guys who are positive, bring positive energy. We want guys who can connect with players. If you can connect with players, then you can lead players. If you can’t connect, there is no way you can coach those guys. We want guys who are bringing energy, doing it in a fun way. Guys who are truly committed to working together as well.”

As Ryans seeks to create a “positive culture” inside NRG Stadium, he declared: “No egos allowed. No energy vampires allowed.”

Said Ryans: “We’re going to work together to make sure we’re giving the players everything they need.”

The practical purpose of having a staff comprised of coaches with different backgrounds and characteristics is also to help the players process the objectives Ryans has laid out for success in 2023.

“You want a diverse staff because players learn differently, so we want to be able to present things in a different way to different players to make sure when they step on the field Sunday, they’re clear minds,” said Ryans. “They’re not thinking. They’re playing as fast as possible.”

The Texans finished 3-13-1 in 2022 and were 30th in points for and 31st in total offense. The defense was hardly better with 27th in points allowed and 30th in total defense.

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Texans under coach DeMeco Ryans looking to create ‘illusion of complexity’

The Houston Texans want to be great at their fundamentals under DeMeco Ryans to the point they create an “illusion of complexity.”

The Houston Texans have been struggling to find their identity for the past two seasons.

Whether it was the caliber of coach they hired or the issues at quarterback, the Texans didn’t have very many touchstones as to what defined their team.

General manager Nick Caserio has been front and center with the identity issues for the Texans as the last two coaches were hired on his watch starting with David Culley in late January 2021. Lovie Smith did not warrant any better results after being hired in February 2022, and Caserio knows failure has been more synonymous with Texans football during his time in the front office.

“There’s been a lot of work that we’ve put in over the last few years, and, quite frankly, there’s been some things that haven’t gone the way we would have hoped, but we’re excited about the opportunity in front of us,” Caserio said. “You have to start somewhere. You have to put your feet on the ground somewhere, and here’s where we are today. We have our feet on the ground.”

The Texans hired former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans as the franchise’s sixth full-time coach. Ryans, a former Texans 2006 second-round linebacker, spent his entire coaching career with the 49ers. Kyle Shanahan hired him as a defensive quality control coach when he took the job in 2017, and San Francisco sustained two losing seasons before going to the Super Bowl at the end of the 2019 season. Since then, the 49ers have been to the NFC Championship Game twice in the past three seasons — both trips were with Ryans as defensive coordinator.

“We can’t wait to get started,” said Caserio. “We have a lot of work in front of us, but if we get the right people with the right process in place and then build it day-by-day, okay, week-by-week, month-by-month, that’s how you build sustainable success. It doesn’t happen overnight. I know everybody kind of sometimes gets caught up in kind of the quick fix. You have got to have purposeful intent action and do it consistently day after day.”

One of the ways the Texans will improve is through refining their fundamentals.

Said Caserio: “Honestly, it’s about doing simple things better. If you do simple well, okay, it’s like we talked about offensively, like philosophically. DeMeco has talked about it’s simple, but you create the illusion of complexity, right? So do something really well, kind of create the illusion of complexity. Whether it’s your formation is a certain way, your motion is a certain way, you cause the defender’s eyes to go a certain way. Figure out those things that we can do in the simple things and make sure our players understand that. And if you do it consistently over time, that’s how you’re going to build something that you can actually move forward with and have sustainable success. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

Ryans, 38, is the youngest coach in team history and is the first former player to take the coaching job since Houston’s 2002 origins.

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DeMeco Ryans looking for next Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw on Texans’ roster

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans is looking to develop talented players on the roster similar to what he did with Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw.

DeMeco Ryans is excited to coach the Houston Texans.

Despite their double-digit losing seasons for the past three seasons, the 2023 incarnation projects to have young defensive talent in cornerback Derek Stingley, safety Jalen Pitre, and linebacker Christian Harris. There is also untapped potential in defensive end Jonathan Greenard, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract.

Having the opportunity to work with Houston’s defensive potential is one of the reasons he is motivated about the task at hand, and used Stingley as an example.

“That’s what excites me the most is being able to work with young guys and young guys who are talented,” Ryans said. “Stingley has outstanding talent. Scouted him the last year, and I know the talent that he has. I know the competitor that he is. Going to put him in position to make a lot of plays for us. Put him in a position where he can excel and showcase his talents.”

Stingley’s rookie season was limited to nine games, providing Houston with 43 combined tackles, 1.0 sack, and an interception.

Pitre was another story. The Stafford High School product led the team with 147 combined tackles and five interceptions through 17 starts.

“Seeing Jalen Pitre, loved him coming out of Baylor,” said Ryans. “Loved the blitzing, loved just the play speed of Pitre. Just to see him come out this past year and five interceptions, the way he attacked the ball, man, Jalen, we got to continue to do that. We’ve got to continue to take the ball away.”

Another 2022 draft class member who Ryans mentioned was linebacker Christian Harris. The third-rounder from Alabama had 74 combined tackles, six tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, five pass breakups, and an interception through 12 games, 11 of which he started.

Said Ryans: “Christian, linebacker, fast, physical linebacker. Those are the type of players we can build around. So that does excite me when you have the young talent that we have here that does excite me.”

Ryans used San Francisco 49ers linebackers Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw as examples of players who weren’t highly touted coming out of college, but developed into frontline starters at a minimum, All-Pros at a maximum.

“I’m most encouraged by seeing a player whether it’s a Fred Warner or Dre Greenlaw, guys I’ve worked with who when people say, ‘Oh, they’re not that good, right, they’re not good enough,’ that excites me the most because I know what it takes,” Ryans said. “It just takes time. It takes belief.

“It takes pouring everything you have into a young man like a Fred Warner, who a third-round pick, no one thought he could play middle linebacker, but I saw something in him, I saw a leader, I saw a guy who loved football, and I saw a guy who truly just allowed me to coach him. I coached him hard sometimes. It’s a fine line. I coach them hard and love them hard. Going back and forth.”

Ryans says that he prides himself on Warner being considered the best linebacker in the league, but also in the fact he is successful off the field.

“To see he is a young man who is married, has a beautiful wife, and he is doing the things the right way off of the field,” said Ryans. “Those are the things that excite me about working with young men, when I get an opportunity to mold and help them with things that they can take further along than when they’re done playing.”

If Ryans is able to take advantage of the Texans’ defensive talent on the roster, they should at least be a tough draw in the latter part of the 2023 schedule when some teams are looking for an easy win in the playoff hunt.

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Texans coach DeMeco Ryans showcased Alabama values throughout NFL playing, coaching career

@bigsargesportz details how Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans is the embodiment of valuable lessons one can only learn in Bessemer, Alabama.

HOUSTON — The average person probably hasn’t heard of Bessemer, Alabama.

Bessemer is a small city located 16 miles southwest of Birmingham that houses over 27,000 people. It was named after Sir Henry Bessemer, an English engineer who helped make steel manufacturing easier with his “Bessemer Process.”

Former professional two-way athlete Bo Jackson, who excelled at football and baseball in the early 1990s, grew up in Bessemer. In his prime, he was named to Major League Baseball’s All-Star team in 1989 as a member of the Kansas City Royals and was announced as a Pro Bowl participant the following year with the Los Angeles Raiders.

Other notables from the “Marvel City” include R&B legend Eddie Levert, former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jameis Winston, and Hip-Hop artist Gucci Mane.

One other famous person who has his named mention with the likes of those other individuals is former Jess Lanier High School football player DeMeco Ryans who made a name for himself when he helped take a 1-8 team in his junior season to a 10-3 season the following year. Not only did he excel on the field, but also in the classroom, as Ryans graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

Ryans used his impeccable work ethic on and off the field to gain an athletic scholarship at Alabama. He earned All-American honors and earned the 2005 SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2005. The Houston Texans selected him in the second round of the 2006 NFL draft, and he played for 10 years in the NFL before becoming a very successful assistant coach and coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers.

As he was introduced as the sixth head coach in Texans franchise history on Thursday, Ryans acknowledged his upbringing in Bessemer and thanked his mother for being such an inspirational part of his life.

“My mother, first and foremost, she taught me to have a relationship with God,” Ryans said, looking directly and emotionally at his mother, who was sitting in the front row with his wife and children. “Then my mother taught me what hard work and sacrifice looks like. My mother is, ‘We’re going to get it done no matter how hard it seems, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. We’re going to get it done.’

“Those principles that I saw her, whether it’s working three jobs, whether it’s walking to work so I can have a car to drive to school. Those sacrifices my mother made has just taught me if you want it, you got to go work. You got to work hard. Those are the things that my mother taught me, and I’m forever grateful for her.”

Ryans exuded those traits before he became the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2006, an All-Pro in 2007, and a two-time Pro Bowl selection in 2009. He started working hard and leading by example in middle school, according to his former middle school and high school coach Billy Woodham.

“When he smiles, he lights up the room,” said Woodham in an interview with CBS42 Birmingham. “When he talks, he leads, and he’s one of those ones back to that old saying, “When he walks in a room, he just kind of he takes charge.’”

The Texans auditorium was at max capacity with current and former players, media members, Texans staff, friends, and family who were all on hand to witness and feel the energy and passion that Ryans displays, and they were not disappointed.

His message also resonated back home with the citizens of Bessemer, where he graciously donates his time and money.

“What I say to all the people back at Bessemer is, ‘Whatever you dream, if you believe it, you definitely can achieve that,’” said Ryans with a smile. “All dreams can come true. That’s what you see here today. This is a dream of mine, and it’s coming true. Whatever anybody, any of us, whatever we dream, we believe, we can make it happen by putting in the work, by hard work, by sacrifice. You can make it happen.”

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6 takeaways from DeMeco Ryans’ Texans press conference

DeMeco Ryans brought enthusiasm to his opening press conference with the Houston Texans. He also laid out how he plans to build the football team.

The Houston Texans kicked off one of their more optimistic moments in a long while.

The Texans’ introduction of David Culley as coach in late Jan. 2021 was over Zoom, which meant there wasn’t any connection due to the situation surrounding the starting quarterback and also how Houston went about the hiring process. Even though there was a little bit of excitement when Lovie Smith was promoted from defensive coordinator to coach in Feb. 2022, it did not carry over once Houston started 0-2-1.

DeMeco Ryans’ introductory presser was different. There was plenty of media present to transcribe the quotes from chairman and CEO Cal McNair, general manager Nick Caserio, and the new coach.

Here are six takeaways from the introductory presser with Ryans.