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DJ Bien-Aime
HOUSTON — During DeMeco Ryans’ first season as coach of the Houston Texans, he was unexpectedly stopped by a fan in a grocery store.
The exchange was brief but memorable. The fan told Ryans that he had started watching Texans football again. He was drawn back by the success and renewed energy the former Texans linebacker had brought to Houston.
For years, the fan admitted, he couldn’t stomach the losing — an 11-38-1 stretch from 2020 to 2022 that pushed away many. That moment stuck with Ryans, capturing why he returned to lead the franchise that drafted him in 2006: to restore pride, belief and relevance to Texans football in the city he once represented on the field.
«I popped on a [conference] call, and I said my name and then hear the reaction,» Ryans said Friday. «People are genuinely joyful about what these guys are able to do on the field and winning football.
dismantling the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6 in the wild-card round, Houston has advanced to the divisional round for the third consecutive season, chasing what it has never reached: an AFC Championship Game.
The Texans (12-5) will travel to face the New England Patriots on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN), seeking to snap an 0-6 skid in the divisional round and push the organization into uncharted territory under Ryans’ leadership.
But Ryans won’t be the only coach in the matchup who has revived the team for which he once starred.
After going 4-13 in back-to-back years, Mike Vrabel led the Patriots (14-3) to their first division title since 2019, and they had their first winning season since 2021.
Vrabel is the Patriots’ third coach in as many seasons. New England fired Jerod Mayo after one season last January. He was also a former player and took over for the legendary Bill Belichick, who led the franchise to six Super Bowl titles from 2000 to 2023.
Vrabel was asked Friday about his transition from player to coach, and if it’s hard knowing that he can’t physically help them on the field.
«You have to be confident enough that you’ve helped them get to the game, prepared them and done everything that you can to put them in a position to be successful,» Vrabel said.
Vrabel played with the Patriots from 2001 to 2008, earning All-Pro first team honors in ’07 and helping them win three of those Lombardi Trophies. He was also inducted into the Patriots Ring of Honor, and, similar to Ryans, he possesses a sense of pride for his former franchise.
«I think it’s an honor to coach in this league. I do,» Vrabel said. «There’s only so many opportunities that you get. And to be able to do it here, I think, is special and meaningful.»
Cincinnati Bengals — but the Texans lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round.
Now, Ryans has his sights set on finally getting the franchise and the city over the proverbial hump.
«I saw from afar, the organization was kind of in a bad spot. A lot of negative news about the organization,» Ryans told ESPN. «I was like, man, if I can come back and just really impact this team, impact the organization, impact the city in a positive way where people feel the pride again in the Texans, because I felt that as a player. I just wanted to reestablish that.»
When asked how much does his pride as a player influence his coaching, he said, «It’s everything, man. That’s why I’m passionate about it.»
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This will be the third divisional round matchup since 1970 between head coaches who also played for their respective franchises. The two other instances were the New York Jets (Walt Michaels) versus the Oakland Raiders (Tom Flores) and the Raiders (Art Shell) versus the Bengals (Sam Wyche).
When Ryans was introduced as the Texans’ new coach, stepping back into a building where his history loomed large, the feeling around the team felt different. Photos from his playing days (2005-2011) lined the hallways of NRG Stadium and framed the auditorium where he addressed the media for the first time as the franchise’s leader.
On that day, he called this his dream job.
«I know the people of Houston are longing for a successful football team,» Ryans said. «Everybody around the city loves football.»
Even though he finished his playing career with the Philadelphia Eagles (2012-2015) and spent six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers (2017-2022) — first as a linebackers coach, then as defensive coordinator — Ryans never stopped rooting for the franchise that drafted him.
«Everybody has developed that mentality he has,» right tackle Tytus Howard told ESPN. «He’s made everybody’s game go to another level by him being here.»
This season was the first time that the Texans didn’t win the AFC South under Ryans. In Ryans’ first season, it looked like things would continue down a familiar losing pathway from the previous several campaigns, but the Texans turned it around after starting 0-2.
There was a massive turnaround this season, as well. Houston became just the seventh team in the Super Bowl era (1966) to clinch a playoff spot after an 0-3 start. And the Texans did it thanks to Ryans’ calling card: defense.
«Shoot, I think everybody knows we are the best defense,» safety Calen Bullock said after the Texans’ wild-card win Monday. «The whole world knows that. Every time we go out there, we show it and we went out there and showed it today.»
Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills — who had won five straight division titles — in the AFC East.
When asked what brought Vrabel back to New England and why he thought it was a special place, his answer was simple: «The history of winning and the championships.»
But he knows his teams have to carve their own paths.
«The banners that hang in our stadium, they’re not going to help us win, but I think it’s a great reminder of what it takes to win and the type of people that you have to have in the organization — the selflessness, the work and the sacrifice that you have to make,» Vrabel said before the season. «So, to me, those are great reminders of what it takes.»
Now, sitting as the No. 2 seed, Vrabel, whose NFL coaching career started in Houston when he was a linebackers coach in 2014, and his Patriots are set to take on the fifth-seeded Texans after New England beat the Los Angeles Chargers 16-3 in the opening round.
Before taking the job with the Patriots, Vrabel said what he experienced in the locker room as a player in New England remains the standard of what he hopes to achieve as a coach when he gave his Patriots Hall of Fame speech in 2023.
«We held each other accountable because there was trust, there was an understanding, a respect that you could say things that needed to be said to each other,» Vrabel said. «Every day that’s what I’m trying to recreate wherever I coach. I don’t know if we’ll get it, but every day, I’m going to try because nothing was more important than the team.»
NFL Nation reporter Mike Reiss contributed to this report.
