There is no doubt that the Texans’ trek in the AFC playoffs seems different.
No doubt it feels more daunting, if for no other reason than the Texans have to make it as a wild-card team. Their path to the Super Bowl is on the road. And it starts in the first-ever playoff primetime Monday Night slot against Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers – the first time the Texans aren’t playing in the obligatory Saturday afternoon wild-card playoff spot.
But those aren’t the only reasons this one feels different.
This team is different in its third consecutive playoff run under third-year coach DeMeco Ryans. These Texans are more focused, grittier, and more determined to make the deepest playoff run in franchise history this time around.
It’s playoff time for the Texans, but truth be told, they have had to be in a postseason mindset for the past couple of months, needing almost every victory in their franchise-record nine-game winning streak just to make it to the playoffs.
“Nothing shifts for us when it comes to our mindset. Our mindset never changes,” Ryans said to the Defender after Sunday’s 38-30 regular-season finale win over AFC South rival Indianapolis. “We don’t turn it up because we’re in the playoffs. We continue to grind out, put the work in, do what we have to do to practice really well throughout the week. No matter who our opponent is, we got to have a great week of practice, and that shows up whenever that game is. How we work throughout the week, it’ll show up then. Our process and mindset doesn’t change.”
In other words, the Texans are standing on business this time around.
They aren’t just glad to be in the playoffs, and a third-straight wild-card round victory and yet another AFC Divisional round exit won’t get it this time.
Despite a disappointing 0-3 start to the season, these three years of building under Ryans have set the stage for something bigger this time around. The Texans boast one of the best and toughest defenses in the NFL, led by defensive ends Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. and cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.
We all know that defense wins championships.
The overwhelming belief is that this team is better prepared to make a deep run in these playoffs.
“When we broke it down, I told them: ‘We’re four games away from being world champions,” Anderson said. “Whatever you have to sacrifice, whatever you have to give up, don’t look too far ahead, but really be in the moment, really look at what we’re striving for’
“Look what we’re going towards. I think everybody’s been doing a really good job with that. Man, we’re a couple of games away from being exactly where we want to be at.”
And that has everything to do with these last character-building weeks in which the Texans strung together the league’s longest winning streak. Rarely was it perfect, but in those wins, the Texans came through with the key plays for the victory. They stayed true to that formula all the way until the end.
“The experience that we do have from me having a little more experience, to our defense, our offense, our special teams, our coaches, front office, everybody, we know what it takes to win these games,” third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “That’s a really, really solid execution plan and executing the little things.
“Because everybody thinks you go to the playoffs, you got to do extraordinary stuff. It’s really… the team that does the ordinary stuff better than the other team wins. I think, for me, I got to make completions, take care of the ball. I think when we look at the end of the game, whoever, whenever we play, we’ll see our result and see what happens there.”
