Miami - 28, Houston - 3
DEMECO RYANS: I think overall just with the operation of the offense, I thought C.J. was more efficient. He felt more comfortable, and I think just everyone around him played better, which allowed him to play better. So I'm proud of the progression that C.J. took this week. That's what we want to see.
You want to see improvement week to week, and that's what we saw this week. So I'm proud of what C.J. did.
Q. DeMeco, Will Anderson Jr., on the play where he got a strip sack (no microphone).
DEMECO RYANS: Will, I thought he did a really good job of disrupting. Playing on their side of the line of scrimmage. That's what we want from our defensive end. It's good to see Will show that. That's what we know Will can do.
It was fun to see him make a play. It was fun to see the energy after a play. Just as C.J., Will has gotten better each and every week, and proud of where they are.
Q. After seeing the film, what do you think were the issues with the running back? Tackling? What were the issues you saw?
DEMECO RYANS: With the run defense overall, it's not representative of who we need to be on defense. It all starts with the fundamentals first. First we have to set the edge. The ball got outside way too many times, and it comes down to tackling. The tackling was not good enough.
If we want to be a good defense, we have to tackle, and that showed up tonight that it wasn't good enough. That starts with me of getting that corrected.
Q. You mentioned that C.J. shows consistently how to get better week by week. How much did today exemplify that statement?
DEMECO RYANS: It shows exactly what we're looking for out of everyone. It was good for C.J. to do that. Now we need everyone else around him to continue to play better. When it comes to how we run the football, it wasn't good enough. We have to run the football better. When it comes to catching the football, we have to catch the football better.
Overall, as I asked the guys, that 1 percent to improve upon, and that's where we have to continue to get better.
Q. Where do you think the struggles came from with this defense particularly today?
DEMECO RYANS: I think overall as a team where we struggled is situational football. If you want to win games, defensively you have to get off the field on third down. We didn't. Offensively you've got to convert on third down. We didn't. When you do that, you stall out drives. Offense can't continue to make plays, and that hurts us.
Then we also go to the situation of the red zone. They get into the red zone, they convert every time. We're in the red zone, and we don't convert. So it always comes back to situational football. You don't own those situations, you're going to lose football games.
Q. DeMeco, could you talk about specifically Stroud was throwing to the sideline and over the middle, a couple of more could have been caught by the receivers. Talk about specifically about his throws and what you saw from him.
DEMECO RYANS: What I saw from C.J.'s throws was the ball was coming out on time. It was very accurate, where the ball placement was very good. So it's encouraging to see him from week 1 to this week, to see the improvement just overall. Just seeing him more comfortable, and I saw him having fun playing the game.
I saw him also being able to scramble out of the pocket and make a play. It's fun when you can see guys actually enjoying football, having fun doing it. If he continues to grow, we're going to be just fine.
Q. DeMeco, could you talk about the offensive line, what you saw this week, and in terms of the progression in particular what you've seen from Kenyon.
DEMECO RYANS: Overall, you can see the offensive line protected much better this week. It was good to see. That's what we need from our O-line. Challenge them. Last night's meeting, challenge them. Before the game, like making sure that we have protection, have the quarterback have a good pocket to throw in, and that's what they did today.
I'm proud of what they did, and overall that group is continuing to grow. We've got young players in there with Kenyon and Juice. Those guys are continuing to get better, and it takes reps. So it's good to see these guys get these valuable reps in the preseason where they can go out, put good things on tape. If there's something bad, they can see where they need to improve and correct it. So I'm proud of the O-line.
Q. During pre-warmups, you were seeing Tank on the field in uniform, and then he was seen on the sidelines in street clothes. Is there a reason he didn't play other than keeping him out for concern?
DEMECO RYANS: With Tank, he felt a little tightness there. Tank will be fine. It wasn't smart to put him out there in this preseason game, but Tank will be fine.
Q. Obviously didn't want the results you had today, but how much of this score was a much better Dolphins team than what you faced last week in New England as opposed to maybe slipping back a little this week?
DEMECO RYANS: The Dolphins have a really good team. They're coached well. They did a really good job of running the football.
Credit to Mike and his staff, and overall the players did a good job.
Q. Coach, you said you were proud of the progression that C.J. has made, especially today. Curious, has that progression moved enough where a couple weeks out you're ready to name him the starter?
DEMECO RYANS: We'll have a starter in Baltimore. It's the same as I said previously. You guys will see the starter when we get to Baltimore.
Q. You talked a lot about how the team did. How would you evaluate yourself as far as coaching today?
DEMECO RYANS: It all starts with me. When you put a performance out there like that, it all starts with me, and it wasn't good enough. That's me internally. I wasn't good enough today for our team. So go back to the drawing board and look for myself to improve and get better to make sure I lead this team, that we put out a much better outing, especially in front of our home crowd.
It's not representative of what I want for the Texans, and we'll get it corrected.
Q. Coach, when we think about the (inaudible) series, Denzel Perryman gets the interception. Harken back a week ago, he gets the sack. How critical a linebacker, what's that mean to your defense? What's the leaders of your team? Are you comfortable there? Do we need other guys to follow Perryman's demonstration moving forward?
DEMECO RYANS: Denzel, he's shown that multiple times throughout his career that he's an instinctive football player. That's one of the reasons I wanted to add him to our team. Instinctive football player. Makes plays all over the field. Plays with a high intensity, and everyone around him needs to play with the same intensity.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports