Texans 20, Dolphins 12
DeMECO RYANS: What a fun one. First off, like to just start off by just giving all praise, honor, and glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for continuously blessing us. It's a huge honor to get to do what we do. Prayers go out to Grant DuBose. Really seeing a guy down on the field like that is very hard to see, and we are just praying that all is well with him and that he recovers quickly as possible.
Just overall for this game, just defensively our guys stepped up and did a really good job closing out the game the way we needed to. Stingley is playing just unbelievable football right now. Ask him to cover, man coverage, to go and get two picks versus a really good offense, that was huge for us. Kalen stepped up with a picking for us as wall. Our D-line, the way they rushed. Will, Danielle, they continue to wreak havoc on the opposing offenses, playing on their side of the line of scrimmage.
Just overall to our entire defensively secondary. Thought the guys did a great job in coverage versus an explosive offense just executing the right way and everybody playing together, swarming.
Really proud of Christian Harris for stepping up. Long battle back from injury, but he stepped up and was able to go out and play quality football for us.
Henry stepping in for Azeez. Did a really great job running the show, communicating. Really proud of the effort.
Offensively, CJ, Nico, that connection is outstanding. Again for those guys to connect, get two touchdowns, and for our offense to get points off the turnovers. That was a huge thing for us.
So excited for our guys. Proud of the way they finished the game. It's been a big emphasis for us, is finishing games no matter how it looks, and proud they finished the right way.
Q. At what point do you all decide to have Stingley shadow (indiscernible.) And second from that, how important was it to win in the way...
DeMECO RYANS: Yeah, Stingley was just moving around pretty much however they lined up. We have game plan adjustments. Of course we made some adjustments there when Waddle went out knowing that Tyreek was their most explosive guy. It would be in our best interest to make sure our best cover guy was on they're best receiver.
Q. (No microphone.) On that position, how nice is that, especially this early in the season?
DeMECO RYANS: Yeah, the mindset for us is always like control what we can control. For us today, it's just how can we go out and play good football, complementary football, is versus the Dolphins; and that's what won the game for us, complementary football.
Like I talked about earlier, getting the points off the takeaways, also probably the biggest play in the game is the execution of our fake punt. Thought, you know, Jake Hansen, Dare, the entire punt unit did a nice job executing that the right way. We got the look we wanted and guys were on it.
Frank did a great job having those guys ready to go in that moment, and they made a huge play for us. I thought our punt return unit did a really great job handling their speed on the outside to give Tank and Rob time to get started with some of the returns.
So just collectively as a team, that's what it looks like, especially in the month of December, playing complementary football.
Q. Respectfully, after the DuBose injury situation, do you feel like the defense became a little bit tentative on a couple snaps, try to get back into the groove? It seemed like a little bit timid shots on guys, particularly on plays they looked like they could have let off a little bit.
DeMECO RYANS: Yeah, when that happens, when you see a player go down the way he did and how long he was on the field, I think everybody -- just the NFL brotherhood, like it's instant respect and prayers are up making sure he's okay and he gets up and he has a speedy recovery.
I think all of our guys, you felt that energy leave the entire stadium. It left our sideline, and theirs as well. Rightfully so. I never want to see anybody go down on the field, especially in that manner. Our guys, of course the energy was low for everyone there and our guys were able to pick it up towards the end there.
Q. DeMeco, first half when you had the fourth and two, some of us were wondering would you have not go for the first down there instead of the field goal? After seeing the fake punt and 35 yard gain for the first down in the second half, was that part of the scheme just maybe to lull them to sleep and make them think...or did it just turn out that way?
DeMECO RYANS: It wasn't to lull them to sleep, not at all. I think it was just a well-executed play. Like when you have plays like that, it's about how trustworthy are the guys who you're asking, right, to execute those plays. Dare is one of our most trustworthy player on our team, and putting ball in his hands right there came through big for us.
And the blocking. I don't want to lose sight of that. The way the guys blocked to create such a huge lane for him, it's excellent execution.
Q. Dolphins, Joe Mixon talked earlier this week that you all were desperate. Did you sense that from your team throughout this game, that they were playing with a desperation?
DeMECO RYANS: I felt our team throughout this week, getting back from the bye and just throughout this game, I felt like our team was calm and confident. That's what we have to be. We don't panic or we don't lose our minds in the chaos that is in front of us.
For us, if we remain calm and play together and focus on what we can control we'll be at a good spot. That desperation is every week in the NFL. Everyone is desperate to win. Even though you're in desperation mode, you still have to go out and execute and remain calm.
Q. Would you say that Derek Stingley is the player of the game? The week? The year? Your career?
DeMECO RYANS: (Laughter.) Of my career? That's a good one. Stingley, thank you for the question. Again, he's definitely to me, that play he makes there to end the game in two minute, that is a big time play. Not a lot of players can do that.
So I know all the games aren't over, but I think he's very deserving of player of the week, player of the month. He's done an outstanding job of when teams even try to challenge him, like he's going to go get the football, right?
Can't be more proud of Sting just for what we ask him to do. He steps up every week. No matter with we ask him to do he steps up and continues to grow as a player and pro and make the plays we need to make.
There is not a better play I've seen that that play he made today.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports