The Texans brought DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud to the podium to answer questions from the media after Saturday’s disappointing loss to the Ravens.
These two — the first-year head coach and the rookie quarterback — are unflappable.
They were defeated, not deflated.
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Upset, not unhappy. Hurt, not harmed.
Humble in victory, steadfast in defeat, Ryans and Stroud each managed a number of smiles amid the tears you knew they had shed and those they fought to hold back in that moment.
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How could they smile minutes after the clock hit zero on the worst loss of the season and worst half of a game all season? Not to mention at the worst possible time, a divisional round playoff game that ended with a 34-10 loss at Baltimore.
Ryans and Stroud can smile because they know where the Texans are going, where the two of them are taking them.
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Stroud said he knows the team accomplished a lot this season, but not winning the Super Bowl stings. Yeah, the Texans have a quarterback whose goal is to win a championship. Every year.
He genuinely believed this year’s team had the capability of going all the way.
“I know where I come from in college (Ohio State), if you don’t win it all, then it’s kind of a fail,” Stroud said. “So that’s kind of the mindset I have.
“We can’t look back like, ‘Dang, we didn’t do (anything) special.’ You’ve got to really look back and smile through everything. But at the same time, it’s like, ‘Dang. Dang, man. What if?’ That’s the worst feeling — just having regrets. ‘What if I did this? What if I did that? ’ ”
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What Stroud and Ryans did is change the trajectory of an organization.
Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) warms up before an NFL divisional playoff football game at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, in Baltimore.
This Texans team brought fun back to NFL football in Houston, something that has been missing here for the better part of a decade.
It started with respectability, which they garnered even before the season began. They talked a good game.
Winning was next, which came early in the year as the Texans rolled over Jacksonville and Pittsburgh. Then they showed competitiveness and grit, winning seven of 10 games decided by a touchdown or less.
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Next thing you know, Texans fans were having fun rooting for their team.
They were proud. Just as Ryans said he wanted them to be when he was hired.
Years from now, when Super Bowls are won, parades are held, we will look back on 2023 as the year the Texans changed.
It will be like 2015 is for the Astros. Not the year that the dynasty began, but the year that set the table for the run.
Ryans’ message to his team was remarkably similar to A.J. Hinch’s to the Astros after they lost to the Royals in a division series, the same round of the playoffs in which the Texans just went down.
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The loss hurt, but Hinch knew bigger and better days were ahead. Ryans knows this, too.
Like Ryans, Hinch was making his playoff debut as a manager. Like the Texans, the Astros had a host of key players playing in the postseason for the first time. Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Dallas Keuchel, et al.
Hinch was impressed with how his squad dealt with the pressure.
“I’m proud of how we handled ourselves,” he said after the loss. “I’m proud of how we responded to the challenge of a wild card game, how we responded to the challenge of playing the defending American League champions, and how we gutted it out to the bitter end.”
Ryans talked about being proud of his team as well. Proud of his young quarterback and his players for winning a wild-card game and standing (for a half at least) “toe-to-toe with a really good team” in the Ravens
Then Ryans began coaching next year’s team from the postgame podium.
“You’ve got to go earn it again next year,” Ryans said. “We start over next year. It’s a new team, and we start over, and you have got to go earn it.
“You’ve got to go put the work in again. Each year is a new year. Great job this year with the guys for getting to the divisional round. Now let’s see how we can build off of that and be better next year.”
The Texans should be better in the coming years, but this season the organization let all naysayers know a new day has dawned.
That is why Ryans and Stroud were smiling.
And for the first time in a long time, so are a host of Texans fans.
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