00:00Looking, Stroud stepping out to the right, throws to the end zone, and it's cut for a touchdown.
00:04Hello, Nico Collins. Texans strike first on the touchdown pass, seven yards.
00:13Boy, Dallas was in position, the throw, and then Nico just snatches it, and I mean snatched it, out of
00:23the air.
00:24There was some emphasis on that catch.
00:28That was Mark Vandermeer and Andre Ware on the call, one of several catches Nico Collins had today.
00:33Nico made a bunch of plays today, including right out of the shoot, two touchdowns, right out of the shoot
00:39with a 45-yard catch and run, but it was not enough.
00:43And that was pretty much the whole show today. Offensively for the Texans was the C.J. Stroud-Nico Collins
00:48show.
00:49The Texans' defense collapses in the second half of this game.
00:52They give up four touchdowns in the second half of this football game, and they go on to lose to
00:59the Dallas Cowboys, 34-30.
01:01The final score following today's game, here was Texans head coach D'Amico Ryans in his press conference.
01:10Why do you feel like you all keep struggling on defense to start teams and struggling to finish compared to
01:16what we've seen previously?
01:18Today was not a great finish by our team.
01:22Defensively, it was not good enough.
01:24If the offense goes out and plays like they played to give us 30 points defensively, you have to find
01:30a way to close that game out.
01:31And it was disappointing that we've been in three games that way, where the offense has done a great job,
01:38and we haven't been able to close it out there in the second half.
01:41So we've got to look at it all and see what changes we need to make and what we need
01:46to fix.
01:46Well, obviously, you know, C was having a pretty big game.
01:51Was there ever any consideration to having D'Amico kind of shadow him?
01:57We've got to play our technique better.
02:04In the second half, it just wasn't good enough.
02:06First half, I thought everybody played the coverages the proper way.
02:09They were where they were supposed to be, eliminated the explosive plays.
02:12And in the second half, whatever the reason that may be, we did not do our coverages the proper way.
02:18The penalties definitely crushed us today.
02:30Too many self-inflicted penalties offensively.
02:34Like, we've got penalties that start to drive, kickoff return, way too many penalties, hurting the team, not helping the
02:42team, defensively third down.
02:43So we've got a lot of things that we're fighting against ourselves, and you can't win football in the NFL
02:50that way
02:51when you're constantly fighting the uphill battle.
02:53So the penalties have to be eliminated.
02:56Coach, the run game, you know, just another week where you didn't get the results you were looking for.
03:02What are your initial thoughts on the run game and improvement there?
03:05The offense scored 30 points.
03:18You mentioned guys not playing coverage.
03:20How does that happen?
03:22Yeah, I have to look at the film and see what happened.
03:25But in a couple plays there where you see CD is just wide open, that's definitely not our plan.
03:30So we have to look at it to see what happened, where were the communication miscues that happened.
03:35But that's not how we play coverage.
03:38When you combine the penalties today with the struggles to run the ball,
03:41are you kind of concerned with the degree of difficulty that you're kind of putting on CJ Stroud?
03:46Is that a tough thing to sustain week to week?
03:48CJ is a big boy.
03:49He played outstanding today.
03:51Threw the ball around really well.
03:53It was great having Nico back.
03:54Would love to be up here celebrating Nico.
03:56For him being back, creating explosive plays there to start the football game, to get in the end zone two
04:01times.
04:01Jalen Noel stepped up, big explosive play on offense.
04:07Also, big explosive kick return as well.
04:10So there's a lot of great things.
04:12KB continues to make tough, contested catches time and time again.
04:15Hutchinson showed up big time on some third downs, some catch and run type plays, creating first downs, keeping the
04:21chains moving.
04:22So many positive things that I would love to highlight from our guys' offense.
04:26They did a really great job.
04:27Whether it's running the ball, throwing the ball, it didn't matter.
04:30Our guys moved the ball really well.
04:32It just didn't play well enough defensively.
04:34And it's really a bad feeling.
04:39You don't play that well defensively to finish a game when the offense has did such an outstanding job.
04:45That's just not great on our part.
04:47Nico, big picture.
04:49How do you overcome 0-4 now?
04:51You stick together and you keep going.
04:54That's what it is.
04:55All these games, we've been in these games.
04:57We just got to find a way to finish these games.
04:59That's what it is.
05:00It's 0-4.
05:01That's our record.
05:01That's what it says, you know, who we are right now.
05:04But how do you come out of it?
05:05It's what I told our guys.
05:07I mean, you stick together.
05:08There's no point fingers, no blaming.
05:10Like, hey, you look within yourself, D'Amico, what do you have to do better to get it corrected?
05:15And that's where I start with myself.
05:17Like, how can I get it all corrected?
05:19Hey, D'Amico, what was the, do you think, the big difference in the first and the second half defensively?
05:25You guys, you know, were able to play a little tighter in the first half.
05:27And they just, the Dallas offenses really exploded in the second half.
05:31I have to look at it to see exactly, you know, what happened for us.
05:35I know they came out.
05:37They had the, we had the, we gave them the big return to start the second half, which we can't
05:42do.
05:42We got to cover better there on special teams.
05:45And then we allowed them to go down and score.
05:48They're in range.
05:48So, have to look at it again to see we gave up.
05:51I know in the second half we gave up way too many explosive plays.
05:55And if we want to stop an explosive offense like that, you can't allow the ball to be completed, right,
06:0120 yards more down the field.
06:03And we gave up way too many of those to good players.
06:06Did a good job in the first half.
06:08But for whatever reason that is, I'll have to examine it on the video this evening and see what happened.
06:15Throughout the first few weeks, teams have been able to generate those explosives, especially through the air.
06:21How much is it guys not playing their technique, but how much is it also offensive coordinators being able to
06:27find ways to find holes within the defense to give their guys a little bit of an advantage?
06:33What's kind of like that sliding scale from, you know, the offensive coordinator being able to put the guys in
06:37position slash the coverage is not being played correctly?
06:40Yeah, we'll look at the film and see, all right, what really happened on the explosive plays.
06:46But there is no coverage where we designed to leave guys open.
06:51That's not a coverage, right?
06:52So we got to do a better job there.
06:54And, you know, they made a play.
06:57I thought it was George made a really big play there, created an explosive.
07:01That's a contested play right there.
07:03Kamari is battling a contested play that they made on us, right?
07:07But we got to find a way to be on the other side of this, find a way to get
07:11the ball out, find a way to get the quarterback down.
07:13I think a few more, D'Amico, you were talking about potentially changes to BMA.
07:18What actual changes will you actually consider?
07:21Whatever.
07:22I mean, it's my job as the leader of this football team to do whatever it takes for us to,
07:26you know, turn this thing around.
07:28What was your message to your team postgame, and was it notably different from recent weeks now that it's 0
07:34-4?
07:35It's the same message.
07:36Like, the only people that can do anything about the 0-4 start are the guys in that locker room.
07:41Coaches, players, we all have to stick together.
07:45It's easy when you're in this spot to, you know, I say point fingers or blame this person or that
07:50person, but that doesn't solve anything.
07:52Like, when things get hard, adversity hits, you climb your way through it by sticking together, and that's the only
07:59way I know.
08:00Been there, done it, that's the only way I know, and that's where we'll keep working.
08:04We'll get back to the drawing board, keep working.
08:06But, you know, a lot of guys did a lot of good things today, a lot of good things.
08:11And my message is it hurts me that I can't go in and celebrate those positives that a lot of
08:18guys showed today on the field for us.
08:22And you've seen the film right now.
08:24Is this a matter of the offensive line comment before we're there?
08:27I'll have to look at the film to see what happened there.
08:32Last year, you guys started off 0-3, and obviously this year, you guys are 0-4.
08:36What do you think is kind of like the biggest difference, how you guys were able to end up in
08:40this spot?
08:40Even though last year, you guys were able to overcome it, but what do you think the biggest difference ended
08:44up in this spot at 0-4?
08:46I understand a lot of people want to compare 2025 to 2026, but for me, it's not the same.
08:53It's not.
08:54We got a different team, we got different people, everything is different.
08:59So as much as we would love 2025 to carry over into 2026, that's never the case.
09:05That never works in the NFL, right?
09:06And just because you have prior success, that doesn't automatically mean you're going to have future success.
09:12You have to go out and earn everything you get in the NFL.
09:15And right now, we're not doing the things to earn the right to win games.
09:20So when we do things the proper way and we put the work in the proper way, we close games
09:25out how we're supposed to close it out, you got to go earn it.
09:28Like, nobody's handing us any wins.
09:30We'll get a win when we go earn it the right way.
09:33Two questions.
09:34Did you feel like your players may have thought that 2025 was going to carry over into 2026?
09:42You have to ask the guys individually on that.
09:44But for me, it's every year you start over, right?
09:48And for me, I never – even 2025 was 2025.
09:54Like, it's a shame we're sitting here talking about that right now.
09:57But for us, 2026, what do we do about it right now?
10:00That's my mindset.
10:01That's the mindset of our players.
10:04The drive where it goes, you know, the big play by Pickens, the defensive pass interference and the holding.
10:13What did you think on the pass interference call?
10:14And did you think that drive kind of turned the momentum in the Cowboys' favor?
10:22That was a tough one for us there, you know, in the red zone.
10:25Thought our guys, you know, played it tight.
10:28It was tough.
10:29And the energy was right from our crowd.
10:31The fans were definitely into it.
10:34Man, I wanted that stop there on fourth down.
10:37But unfortunately, like, we didn't get to stop it on control, you know, what happens there with the penalties.
10:43But, man, our guys battled there.
10:45And they, you know, thought we were clean.
10:47Came away with a stop there, but it didn't go our way.
10:51All right.
10:51That was Texans head coach D'Amico Ryans.
10:54His press conference each and every week is brought to you by 1800 Tequila.
10:59It is the official tequila of the Houston Texans.
11:02All right.
11:02When we come back, I got a couple things I want to react to from that press conference.
11:06And we will start in on the phones as well as we roll on here on a Sunday.
11:10Yet another losing Sunday this Sunday.
11:13Today, Texans fall to the Dallas Cowboys 34 to 30.
11:18More importantly, their record falls to 0 and 4.
11:20We'll go through the history of 0 and 4 as well with the Houston Texans.
11:25This just in.
11:26There's not many good endings, but it does not go on to end well with 0 and 4.
11:31Can this team be the exception like they were last year?
11:34We'll talk about that and a whole lot more when we come back.
11:37And we'll take your phone call.
11:38713-572-4610.
11:40It's the Fifth Down Show presented by Fifth Third Bank on Texans Radio.
11:43Yep.
11:43Yep.
11:43Yep.
11:44Yep.
