Texans' DeMeco Ryans had Joe Flacco and Browns in his sights from the start
The Houston Texans put up 45 points on the best defense in the NFL, so they say. Well, technically, the offense put up 31 points because the defense had two interceptions of their own that they returned for a touchdown.That happened to be the first time a team had two pick-sixes in the playoffs since […]
The Houston Texans put up 45 points on the best defense in the NFL, so they say. Well, technically, the offense put up 31 points because the defense had two interceptions of their own that they returned for a touchdown.
That happened to be the first time a team had two pick-sixes in the playoffs since 2008, when the Seattle Seahawks did, which was 16 years ago. All year, the narrative and story have been about C.J. Stroud, and don't get me wrong – he was great, as he made NFL history, but the defense was a huge reason Saturday night's game went the way it did.
"I have never seen back-to-back pick-sixes like that," head coach DeMeco Ryans said after the win. "We needed our defense to step up. You know, [Browns QB] Joe [Flacco] had a big day against us a couple of weeks ago, and we knew it was a challenge in the passing game.
"And, you know, for Nellie [Steven Nelson] to make the pick that he made and also see [Christian] Harris – those are big-time plays. One of our focuses coming into the game was to attack the football, but to attack it and go score. That changes the game for us."
The game really changed when the interceptions happened. You could feel the momentum of the game completely change, as it was still a pretty close game before Steven Nelson's pick-six. Then, when Chstitain Harris had his, who also had a huge game, you could feel that the Texans were going to move on to the next round.
The defense has had its moments this season. They allowed the New York Jets, a bad offensive team, to score 30 earlier in the year and even allowed this same Cleveland Browns team to score 36 in a loss. In this game, they stepped up big time when they needed to most.
In Flacco's last game against the Texans in Week 16 of the regular season, he ended with 365 passing yards – with 265 going to Amari Cooper alone, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. Now, the interce[options were pretty meaningless, as they were basically punts. However, F;acco played a very good game.
Ryans knew about Flacco's interception problem, though. Sure, the Flacco story was incredible this season, as he not only revitalized his career a bit but also helped a team that had four different quarterbacks get to the playoffs this season. But Ryans saw this coming from a mile away, as Flacco finished his 2023 season and postseason with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Browns have the difference-maker against Texans who has already proven he’s a nightmare for them
They could not stop him the first go around.
