- 1 week ago
The Texans are 2-4 and the offense seemed to regress in their Monday Night Football loss to the Seattle Seahawks. How much blame should go toward head coach DeMeco Ryans?
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00:00To what degree does the heat need to be brought to D'Amico Ryan's?
00:04Because I do think that there needs to be some heat.
00:05There's definitely a number of things that you can look at in the course of this game
00:09that the chief on-field decision-maker of D'Amico Ryan's has to answer for.
00:16But there was enough things, and enough things that have not just in the individual of this game,
00:21but that are fall in line of patterns that make me question just how good of a head coach is D'Amico Ryan's.
00:29I think that a lot of people will come to a place where he's a good head coach.
00:32You've seen good things happen with this team.
00:34Obviously, the defense in particular looks incredible and has been since he has gotten here.
00:39There's still some issues that continue to permeate that are beyond just every coach has their quirks.
00:45Yeah, and I have not been copping out today or being wishy-washy about my feelings about the problems with his squad.
00:53So I don't want to sound that way here.
00:56Here it is.
00:57It's a yes and no question.
00:58Okay.
00:59Answer, I should say.
01:01Yes, there are absolutely some things that fall at his feet.
01:05100%.
01:06Yeah, I feel like it ended up being a very good decision in one case.
01:12But his on-field decision-making in terms of down and distance, when to go, go, not go,
01:18it is on him.
01:20To tell the offensive coordinator, run the ball here, don't run the ball here, is on him.
01:29And that was very, you know, obviously obvious in some situations when the Texans were facing this short, that's on him.
01:40There were some absolute things in terms of personnel and some of the hires that were made, if you want to go beyond just yesterday's game and on field, that are on him.
01:51But I also feel like no, because I feel like he's been maybe too trusting of the general manager's influence in some of these things.
02:05You know, going back to Nick Caley and Cole Popovich and maybe too loyal because you needed a boost on this offense and you went with an unproven guy.
02:18And that, maybe you were influenced by Nick Casario, but ultimately it does fall on you.
02:24He claimed it.
02:25You know, he flat out claimed it.
02:26I hired him.
02:27So it's almost like a yes and no.
02:29Yes on field, you know, a lot of stuff falls on D'Amico Ryan's.
02:33Some of it, maybe it was just too naive, too vulnerable, too easily influenced by the general manager.
02:39And I think that those are like larger, larger, bigger, headier kind of portions of it.
02:44I don't think you're wrong.
02:45I think you don't even have to go that far.
02:48Now, D'Amico Ryan's was asked about not capitalizing the red zone.
02:52And what's the common thread of just not taking advantage of opportunities?
02:55For us tonight, it's just overall, it was just sloppy.
03:00There was some positive things that we did, but it was just overshadowed by the negative things.
03:06Offensively, it was not good enough.
03:08It didn't move the ball good enough.
03:10We got to execute better.
03:12The main goal in this game was to control the front.
03:14We did not do that.
03:16Their front controlled us.
03:17And it wasn't good enough for us.
03:19So, we have to find a way to get better there.
03:21We got to score points.
03:23So, we got to find a way to get in the end zone, have multiple opportunities.
03:26I just didn't capitalize on those.
03:29All right.
03:30Sloppy offense.
03:31Where have we heard that before?
03:32Except out of this man's mouth a few times before.
03:35And maybe you go, you know, as the head coach, trusting of the offensive coordinator, that's not getting it done.
03:41Maybe you can give that a little bit of, you know, leeway, even though 15 days, all, you know, by week, you know, you've at least recently let Matt Burke call defense so you can move around and maybe have a little bit better quality control.
03:56So, I'm not seeing the quality control on offense, but maybe, maybe you can let that fly.
04:01Can you give me cut six here?
04:02Because this is D'Amico Ryan's talking about the early critical penalties.
04:07Because that was, this is the thing that gets me, is that this is a team that constantly, consistently still makes boneheaded decisions.
04:14And while, and mitigates the great defensive play where they get themselves off the field, except here is a leveraging penalty on, you know, on a field goal or a punt.
04:23Here is a, you know, here is a, you know, big tackle on, or like a roughing penalty or something to that nature.
04:30This is D'Amico when, when he answers for the penalties here.
04:33Penalties always affect, especially the critical moments.
04:36It's third down there at the end of the game.
04:41It's just silly penalties that we have to be, we have to be a smart football team.
04:46We have to make smart decisions and, you know, we did it in critical times.
04:51And again, that's not winning football.
04:53No, that is absolutely a large thing.
04:55I think you can, you can speak to Alshair as well.
04:58You know, we're, we're sitting there.
05:00We're going, of course it's him.
05:02I know I was.
05:03And as, and he loves that guy and he is a leader and he's been, and we've spoken with him, you know, multiple times.
05:09And, and it's kind of hard not to, to understand, you know, just how bad-ass Alshair is for this squad, but there's a line, man.
05:18You know, there was a line and the penalties were, were done there as well.
05:21And I think actually offensively as well, some of the decision-making that was made to rotate the guards and bring in Berrios, that's the head coach.
05:31Yeah, that doesn't happen without his.
05:33That's where the head coach comes in and says, nah, man, no, we cannot do that.
05:38Our goal is, Seth tweeted this and it made me laugh, but you know, our goal is not to figure out who plays left guard by week 15.
05:45Our goal is to put the best five that we think are out there and run with them.
05:50The teams, the teams that have the capability of doing, having that luxury and doing that of like, we'll figure out what our best iteration of ourselves is in week 15.
05:58Our teams like the Kansas city chiefs that know they are good, that can do enough to get the wins in the meantime.
06:03And that have enough experience to know that we can, we have the, we have the basics on autopilot.
06:10We have the basics to keep ourselves in games and largely win these.
06:13And so we will get these wins and we'll figure out because we know we'll be playing in the post season.
06:18This, this Texans team that come in and you lost any semblance of maybe having that when you lost your first three football games, right?
06:26You could not operate in that way.
06:27So again, he, he is the, he is one of the places where the buck stops, especially with on field things.
06:32And there was just way too many on field things that you look that we would typically go.
06:37The head coach is not doing his job when it comes to, you know, the quality control of you want your guys to play sound football.
06:43There was a number of times where you have guys, you know, making just ill-advised plays or ill-advised penalties that took you out of opportunities to go in, win the football or win the game or get off the field and those types of things.
06:57And that keeps coming back to D'Amico Ryans.
06:59And that's not an oddity of this game that happens frequently.
07:02The odd decisions that happen on the field.
07:05And then I don't, I don't even know what to do with this.
07:07If you can give me, um, this is, if you can give me, um, and of course I can't find it, but I'll just summarize it.
07:15D'Amico Ryans talking about that, uh, that kickoff where honestly, I was, I was surprised that they did not onside kick in that moment as well.
07:24Maybe.
07:24I got it.
07:25You got it.
07:25Yeah.
07:26I was surprised they did not onside kick.
07:27However, they kick, they kick the ball down the field and they allow a return when it, with the two minute warning, uh, bearing down it's two Oh four.
07:34You have one timeout left.
07:35And so the idea being, if you can give yourself a defense, an opportunity to make a stop, you can get the ball back and go and score.
07:41I'll give a, any head coach, if that's your philosophy, especially looking at the way that this offense is playing, this defense is playing, maybe you can get better field position that way.
07:49I don't know.
07:49All right.
07:50Um, fine.
07:51The idea that you're, that you're kicker.
07:54Well, actually I'll let D'Amico Ryans, cause they asked him, D'Amico, why did, um, Kaimi?
07:58Kaimi Fairbairn, the C has to return it and basically get rid of one of your de facto timeouts, which is the two minute warning.
08:05Yeah.
08:05The plan at the end of the game, we're kicking the ball out of bounds so we can utilize the two minute and I had a timeout and we did not execute that again, just go through the entire game.
08:15So, you know, frustrating that we're not executing the things that we're coached to do.
08:21Yes.
08:22No, you're, you're, you're absolutely right.
08:23And maybe it was just Kaimi Fairbairn, a reliable guy, a reliable kicker, uh, just had brain lock.
08:30Yeah.
08:30But, but at some point you have to, you know, you have to double down on that, kick the ball out of bounds.
08:36You know, you have to be, you have to have that, that done.
08:38So it's a bunch of little things that are adding up, you know, in terms of the, like you said, the discussion that needs to be had about D'Amico Ryans.
08:44I still go back to, to this offense, you know, to, to, to this offense.
08:48Even if you did trust, uh, Nick Casario too much and you brought in guys that are just in way over their head, like Nick Caley, even if you did do that, you can't let him run the ball the way he did in these crucial situations.
09:03When you know, it's not working.
09:04You're a defensive guy.
09:05You know what that defense looks like.
09:07You know what their defensive front looks like and what they're going to do just, you know, on the headset, say, Hey, let's roll out screen, whatever you want to do.
09:16Let's get the ball in so-and-so's hands, whether it was Nico Winos on the field or Jalen Knowles having a good game or whatever, or Dalton Schultz, you know, let's do this.
09:25You have to do that as the head coach.
09:27Even if you're not an offensive guy, you have to do that.
09:29And see, I still feel like that falls on the, on the head coach because they weren't prepared to me.
09:35I feel like they weren't prepared for that.
09:37And if you look on the other side, the ball, they more prepared because they was getting the ball out quick because they know who was on them edges.
09:45Yeah.
09:46So they were getting up to the line real quick.
09:48That's a great point.
09:49Yeah.
09:49I mean, you got to give Sam Darnold a lot of credit and you got to give McDonald, you got to give Kubiak a lot of credit because Sam Darnold in that pocket, you could tell, I could read this as clear as day off of the screen, that his objective, like he was given to him, or that was given to him was, if it's not there, I'd rather you get rid of it earlier rather than late.
10:09There were some instances where the wind was just happening on the edge for Will or Danil and he was like, nope, done with that one.
10:16We'll live to fight another down.
10:18It wasn't one, two, three, four.
10:19It was one, two.
10:20Let's go.
10:21In terms of his reads.
10:23And this is the thing that I keep fighting with within myself is I believe D'Amico has a connection with these players.
10:29I think he is a person, like he is a personable football coach.
10:34But the thing that I cannot answer is why with a guy that is so personable, that's so affable, that seems to care so deeply for his players and that the players seem to react to him, why then do they get to the big moments with the swarm, you know, the special work ethic and relentless mentality mantra, do they then lose all of their, you know, do they just lose the plot?
10:56Like, why is it in these moments that they end up making boneheaded mistakes?
11:01Why is it in these moments where, you know, the edict that's been put down from the head coach or from coaches not reaching?
11:07And it's too often, way, way too often, John Lopez, do I hear from D'Amico Ryans, well, the players aren't doing what they've been coached to do.
11:15If they're not doing it, there is a loss in translation.
11:18I went to school, and one of the things in theory of communications is if the messenger is not really, or if the receptor is not receiving the message, it is the transmitter's issue.
11:30Like, you need to make sure that your message gets in the right place.
11:33That's on me.
11:34And that is on the head coach.
11:35That is what I could keep looking at when I see a game and a team that is so damn sloppy.
11:40That is, I mean, on the other side, they were giving you opportunities to try and stay in this football game, and you kept handing them back.
11:47Like, and when you don't have margin, when the margins are so damn thin because your offense is not humming or because, you know, Jackson Smith and Jigba happens to just be cooking you, you need to have those, you know, those margins, those things at the, things on the outside that help you keep this close.
12:02And it seems like in those moments where you need the margins the most, they fail, and that falls on the head coach.
12:06There's one more thing with D'Amico that I feel needs to be discussed, and it's been talked about, not like I'm breaking news here, but I think last night illustrated,
12:15are you sure you want to be death by a thousand cuts?
12:19Are you sure that's the only way that, you know, because the whole thing with this offense is don't make mistakes.
12:27You know, don't make mistakes.
12:29Keep us down in distance.
12:30That is agreeable.
12:31And that's the defensive-minded head coach mentality.
12:34That is D'Amico Ryan's personified.
12:36You know, just don't be stupid.
12:39Don't make mistakes.
12:40Move, matriculate the ball down the field.
12:42Shout out to Hank Stram.
12:43That doesn't work all the time in the NFL.
12:48And I'll go back to the other thing.
12:50You got four turnovers.
12:52You got a defensive touchdown.
12:54And your philosophy as a defensive-minded head coach still didn't work.
13:01Maybe D'Amico needs to rethink.
13:02And I think it also sort of, he needs to rethink it in terms of what's best for our franchise quarterback.
13:07You know, you know, he's playing, he's playing the game kind of with one hand tied behind his back because of that philosophy and approach.
13:14I mean, it's a long week.
13:18And offensively, there's clearly, there's been issues.
13:21But the little things are slipping through the cracks.
13:25And they have been.
13:26I mean, this isn't just a this-year issue.
13:29There's a lot of moments where the little things slip through the cracks in the biggest moments.
13:32And outside of getting your offense right, which is a crazy thing to sidestep because it's huge.
13:37It's a huge issue for this Texans team, clearly.
13:39You need to get those types of things in, Chuck.
13:41And it's kind of amazing to me that those things keep falling through the cracks.
13:45With a coach that I would generally, you know, respond to, is he a good coach?
13:49As yes.
13:50No, of course.
13:50A game like this, it's frustrating on so many different levels because, again, you talked about the general manager.
13:57And it's clearly there.
13:58We've talked about the offense coordinator.
14:01We've talked about the head coach.
14:02All of them have failures that show up in this game.
14:05And you're just not going to get to where you want to be like that.
14:07Yeah.
14:08And when it comes to, like, the approach, the ultra-uber-safe approach of just, you know, second and seven is fine.
14:16And don't make mistakes and all that.
14:18That is a D'Amico thing.
14:19I mean, you can talk all you want about Patriots' system, and I have, about John Carroll, and I have,
14:23and about the guys that are in over their head, and they are.
14:27But the philosophy, the offensive approach that didn't work when you got four turnovers, that's D'Amico.
14:34He wants to be uber-safe, you know, with this offense.
14:37I mean, you kind of seen it the last couple of years with Bobby Sloan.
14:42And it's a question that I don't feel like.
14:45It's why Bobby Sloan got fired, by the way, on the negative plays.
14:47A question that is natural rolling off of that is, at what point do you have to consider whether or not this is the right circumstance for D'Amico Ryans as well?
14:58Which I don't know what the right answer to it is.
15:01But a game like that, where you can look at a lot of different facets, where your head coach, even your head coach,
15:07has things that come back to him as not just anomalies here and there, but happen enough and with enough frequency that that's a trend, right?
15:16Offense coordinator, which again falls to him, is clearly out of his depth, and you're not able to put up a game plan that makes sense.
15:22You're reverting the things that we know don't work in a game where you need to have it coming off of, or with enough time to plan.
15:28And, like, there are real questions as to, like, damn it, how much do you want this job, D'Amico Ryans?
15:33I don't think he's at the top of the list.
15:35He's not.
15:35Yeah.
15:36He's not.
15:36But I don't want to ignore him either because that was a part of this.
15:39Yeah.
15:40That was a part of this game.
15:41No, I don't think he's at the top of the list.
15:42I think you talk about serious discussions.
15:45They need to have some serious discussions about the general manager.
15:48They really do.
15:50And the general manager needs to have some serious...
15:51This week, you mean, like, the Meneers need to have serious...
15:54Whenever it is, whether it's this week or soon, the writing is on the wall that his approach has not happened.
16:01So he'd be at the top of the list.
16:03Maybe, obviously, you go down from there, offensive coordinator, you know, et cetera, personnel people and all that.
16:09But D'Amico, he's in there.
16:11He's in there at some point if it continues.
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