By Mallory Mattingly
On Sunday night, the Houston Texans lost the NFL Divisional Round to the New England Patriots, but despite the disappointment, head coach DeMeco Ryans expressed his gratitude to God for the incredible season.
“First and foremost, and all glory, honor, and praise to God,” he said in the post-game press conference. “I’m just thankful for the season that we were able to have. Didn’t finish the way we would have liked to have seen, but I’m proud of this team, proud of these guys for just being a light and shining bright.”
“The guys accomplished a lot of firsts, did a lot of great things throughout this year, provided a ton of inspiration to a lot of people, especially to the city of Houston,” Ryans continued. “We’re not coming back with a win, but we have a ton of fans that are proud of what these guys were able to accomplish this year, and I’m proud of these guys, as well.”
Related: How Texans QB C.J. Stroud Ended Up in the NFL: ‘It’s a Blessing’
The Texans did not play the game they wanted to play. Quarterback C.J. Stroud threw four interceptions in the first half, which left the offense struggling to get going.
When asked if he ever thought about benching Stroud, Ryans immediately said, “No, C.J. is our guy. I believed that he could come back out in the second half and flip it. I believed that he could play better, and he did that in the second half. He did play better. We had some positive drives there in the second half. I believed that he would do that, and he did that.”
“As I always tell our guys at halftime, it really doesn’t matter what happened in the first half,” the coach continued. “You have to flush it, remove it, and you just have to go out and finish the right way. We’ve been there before. We’ve been in situations much more dire than this, and we were able to bounce back. In my mind, there was no doubt in my mind that we would be able to overcome that.”
There was no point in the game where Ryans’ felt his quarterback’s confidence ever wavered.
“I just feel like you just keep battling. That’s my main thing. In a game, a lot of bad things happen. That’s the nature of the game. Bad plays happen. But you just move on, and you go to the next play. That’s where you can’t let one bad play turn into another. You just keep punching. That’s what I wanted to see our guys keep doing,” Ryans said.
Despite the loss in the playoffs, the Texans are grateful God gave them an incredible season this past year.
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