Texans may have a winner in Ryans
HOUSTON — You wanted change.
You demanded accountability.
You wondered when the Texans were going to figure out this football thing again and how much longer we would have to wait for Houston’s NFL team to make Houston proud again.
You got Demeco Ryans, back in local red and blue. Dang, Cal Mcnair. Dang.
After two unbelievable backto-back misses, you got it right this time. And Bob Mcnair is surely smiling somewhere, knowing his son pulled off a smooth business move that was more than a decade in the making.
Cal Mcnair had his breakthrough moment as owner/ CEO on Tuesday, and the Texans might never be the same. Texans 2002-22. Texans 2023-beyond. That sounds cool, doesn’t it? With Ryans igniting a rebuild that had been wildly erratic and unpredictable the last couple years, hope has returned to Kirby Drive, and the energy bill will blast through the roof.
Speaking of NRG Stadium … does Ryans want the ceiling open or closed on game days? New uniforms?
New slogan?
New pregame rituals and post-victory celebrations?
Everything should be run through the new head coach, who began day one with as much power as third-year general manager Nick Caserio and has more name recognition than every player still on the Texans’ roster.
I was told the morning after Lovie Smith was fired that the once stumbling and bumbling Texans had serious interest in Ryans as their next HC. They were going to try to get this one right, especially now that Jack Easterby had been kicked out of the building, Deshaun Watson
was gone, and a massive rebuild had bottomed out.
But becoming the team to hire Ryans on the same day the Denver Broncos (with Russell Wilson at quarterback) were forced to settle on Sean Payton as their next head coach? Dang.
Ryans is an immediate game changer for the Texans.
Check that: franchise changer.
“Being the head coach of the Houston Texans is my dream job,” Ryans said in a statement. Says it all, doesn’t it? How many games will he win in 2023?
Who will be his first starting quarterback?
Time will answer all those big questions.
But the instant, obvious fact was that the Texans re-energized their fractured fan base and finally gave current (and former) fans something to seriously believe in.
Rookies will want to play, sweat and sacrifice for Ryans. Veteran free agents will want to sign with these Texans. Coaches will want to come to Kirby Drive instead of settling on a three-win team just so they have a job in the pros.
Checks and balances — outdated since Bill O’brien was crowned king in 2018 — will also return to NRG Stadium.
Caserio has hit on a few draft picks, but he’s burned through back-to-back HCS. Many teams would have fired Caserio on the same Jan. 8 evening Smith was axed.
The Texans are placing their on-field future in Ryans’ 38year-old hands. As Patriots South fades in Houston, it’s on an ex-pat to fill Ryans’ roster with the talent he needs to win at a high level.
And I’m not talking about 9-7 or another AFC South banner. If this hire truly works, Ryans will lead the Texans higher than they’ve ever been before. Caserio has to get the upcoming No. 2 overall draft pick right and deliver Ryans a team that can compete in a conference dominated by Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Co.
We want to know everything now.
Who will Ryans hire as his offensive coordinator?
How much change will he be able to bring in year one?
But all we need to know at this moment is the feeling.
Ryans felt like an impossibility. Then a long shot. Then, suddenly, reality. After waiting several days for the news to break, the breakthrough was instantaneous.
No more retreads. No more throwaways. Not another “Oh,
my gosh. How backward and dumb are the Texans?!!” moment.
Mcnair stepped up, and the Texans followed.
This breakthrough can be traced back to the last horrendous head coaching search, which almost forced the completely inexperienced Josh Mccown on Texans fans.
That organizational screw-up woke up the Mcnairs. It also eventually led to Easterby’s dismissal.
He was kicked out of Kirby on Oct. 17.
Ryans landed his dream job three months later and bought into the future of the rebuilding Texans. Coincidence?
Of course not.
“I understand the responsibility I have to this organization and to the fans of Houston to build a winner, and I can’t wait to get to work,” Ryans said. Says it all, doesn’t it?
It’s time for Houston’s NFL team to be relevant again — in this huge, football-loving city and across the league. The past is the past and can’t be changed.
The Texans’ future has finally arrived. It starts with Ryans leading the Texans again.