WATCH: ‘Emotional’ DeMeco Ryans soaks it in after clinching playoff spot in his first year as head coach

If the Jacksonville Jaguars lose to the Tennessee Titans, then the Texans will win their 7th AFC South title.

WATCH: ‘Emotional’ DeMeco Ryans soaks it in after clinching playoff spot in his first year as head coach

Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans emotional inside the Lucas Oll Stadium tunnel after beating the Indianapolis Colts (Screengrab YouTube)

DeMeco Ryans has successfully taken the Houston Texans to the playoffs in his first year in charge after they beat the Indianapolis Colts 23-19 on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Texans will play their first postseason football game since 2019.

Since then, the franchise has gone 11-38 and seen two coaching changes. First, they got rid of David Culley and then parted ways with Lovie Smith. Beating the Colts meant Houston finished with their first 10-game winning season since their last playoff run. That’s only the 5th time in their history they have managed that since they became a part of an extension team in 2002.

It was all possible after a smart move from Janice McNair, who snatched Ryans from the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator post and installed him as the Texans head coach. Along with him, McNair appointed Bobby Slowik as an offensive coordinator.

Now it was time to build the team around a quarterback. In the 2023 NFL Draft, they picked up an Ohio State product, CJ Stroud, who ended the regular season with 4108 yards, 23 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions. Stroud threw for 264 yards and two TDs in the Colts game.

After the game wrapped up, Ryans was seen inside the tunnel leading to the locker room, hyping up his players. Ari Meirov shared a short clip of the 39-year-old being emotional after congratulating running back Devin Singletary.

DeMeco Ryans’ Texans held on to beat the Colts

Before going into Saturday night’s game, the Texans were slight favorites to win over the Colts, as per CBS Sports. But according to Next Gen Stats, the Colts had a better chance of going through to the playoffs (55% to the Texans 45%).

WATCH: ‘Emotional’ DeMeco Ryans soaks it in after clinching playoff spot in his first year as head coach
DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud (Image via SI)

Despite the odds, DeMeco Ryan’s team managed to pull off the victory. Stroud connected with third-year receiver Nico Collins nine times in the game, who gained 195 yards and scored a touchdown. This was Collins best outing (his previous best was against the Denver Broncos with 191 yards and 1 TD), finishing the regular season with 80 catches for 1207 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Ryans, after the game, told KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson,

It feels awesome.

Now the next task on their agenda would be to wait for good news to come from Florida on Sunday. If the Jacksonville Jaguars lose to the Tennessee Titans, then the Texans will win their 7th AFC South title and first since 2019.

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