(SportsRadio 610) - The Texans look like a completely different team than the one that opened the season with a road loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
So much of that game four months ago reflected the Texans' inexperience - rookies at head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterback. The Ravens won 25-9 and eventually became the AFC's No. 1 seed, while the Texans became the surprise winners of the AFC South in the final week of the regular season.
“Right, you talk about drastic improvements," Ryans said Monday when asked to reflect on the Texans' improvement. "Our first game going against Baltimore – man, tough place to play. Rookie quarterback, new team, new start, going out to Baltimore. You look up – I remember going into halftime – and man, we were right there. Going against a really tough team, we were right there. Really tight game, and they kind of took it away in the second half. But, from there to where we are now, we’ve definitely grown.
"Completely different team. They’re a completely different team. They’re trying to figure out who they would be offensively with the new [offensive coordinator] [Greg Roman], but they’ve done an outstanding job – Baltimore – with their defense. I think they’ve been probably the most consistent defense throughout the entire year. We’ve grown, their offense has grown. They’ve done a really great job."
The Texans have won their last three games and four of their last five. What did it take for them to get to this point?
“It takes growth throughout the year. It takes ups and downs. It takes failure," Ryans said. "It takes a lot of learning lessons just throughout the entire year to truly grow, to make you tighter. I think you learn best in those tough moments. You see who guys are, their true character, when things get tough, when everything isn’t going well. How do guys respond? We’ve seen that, we’ve seen how everybody responded through those tough times that we had, throughout some tough losses.
"But everybody continued to stick together, everybody continued to work, and that’s the reason why we’re in the position that we are in now."