(SportsRadio 610) - After the Texans outlasted the Cardinals 21-16 on Sunday, first-year Arizona coach Jonathan Gannon addressed his players in the visiting locker room at NRG Stadium.
Gannon made a specific point to his players that should interest the Texans and their fans going into Sunday's game against Jacksonville.
"Yeah, I just told them, that's a playoff football team," he said.
Armed with a three-game winning streak and a 6-2 record over their last eight games, the Texans and playoffs are being used in the same sentence for the first time since 2019 when they won the AFC South for the last time and defeated Buffalo in a wild card game before losing at Kansas City in the divisional round.
The Texans have a 6-4 record, and the Jaguars are 7-3 heading into their confrontation at NRG Stadium. Nobody has to tell the Texans about the great opportunity they have when they host Jacksonville, a team they defeated 37-17 after an 0-2 start.
"It doesn't matter what happened in our first game versus Jacksonville (because) every game is different," coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday. "They've grown (and) changed over the past few weeks, and we have, as well."
Ryans and his coaches are trying hard to not let their players get caught up in the hype surrounding the team's first three-game winning streak since 2018. A day doesn't go by without the Texans being featured on national television and radio networks as well as online outlets that are captivated by the job Ryans and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud are doing for the most surprising team in the NFL.
Second-year linebacker Christian Harris sounded like his coach at Alabama, Nick Saban, during a Monday session with the media. Harris, who had a terrific game against the Cardinals, said getting caught up in the hype could be like "rat poison," which is one of Saban's favorite warnings.
"We take the same approach – 1-0 every week," Harris said. "I don't think we should try to make something bigger than what it is. It can be rat poison. We stay focused on what we're doing."
No, we wouldn't want the Jacksonville game to be bigger than it is. It's just the most significant game at NRG Stadium since that overtime victory over the Bills in the playoffs after the 2019 season.
"How do you help a team understand how big a game is without making (it) a big deal?" Ryans said. "It's that same approach each week. Our approach to practice shouldn't change. It's the same approach we had last week. It's just being focused on yourself, first and foremost, and cleaning up mistakes you had in this last game. If everybody cleans up their one or two mistakes, and if we (don't) have those same mistakes again, we'll have a good chance at winning this game."
Since the start of the 2018 season, the Texans have owned the Jaguars, compiling a 10-1 record. They've beaten them in Houston, Jacksonville and London.
The Texans have won six in a row on the road, outscoring the Jaguars on average 25.8 to 10.8. In their four victories at home, they've averaged 25 points to 12.5. Jacksonville's victory during this six-year period was 31-3 last season at NRG Stadium.
You know second-year coach Doug Pederson is going to remind his team what's at stake Sunday – first place in the division and their reputation against a team that's embarrassed them. The Jaguars plan to defend their AFC South title, and the Texans are their chief competitor.
If the Texans win, they'll have the same record, but the sweep will give them the head-to-head tiebreaker – basically three victories over Jacksonville. But if the Jaguars win, they'll have a two-game lead and will reside in the AFC South's catbird seat.
Both teams enter the game red hot. Since losing to the Texans, the Jaguars have won six of seven games. They had a five-game winning streak until the 49ers hammered them in Jacksonville two weeks ago. They rebounded by clobbering Tennessee.
The Texans have a three-game winning streak. After blowing out the Jaguars and Steelers by a combined 67-23 score, the Texans have played six games – five that were decided in the last 30 seconds.
The Texans lost road games to Atlanta and Carolina on field goals with no time left on the clock. They beat Tampa Bay with six seconds remaining and Cincinnati with no time left. They secured the conquest of Arizona with 30 seconds remaining.
In other words, the Texans are hard on the heart, and the Jacksonville game should be more of the same. Ryans' players and coaches know they're going to get the best the Jaguars have to offer. The idea is to prepare for Jacksonville – no looking back or ahead – with the same consistent plan they've had going into every game.
"I've never thought about this point in the season because if you take care of it one day at a time, then everything else will take care of itself," Ryans said. "That's always been my approach. How can our team get better? That's still my same mindset as we enter this week.
"There are a lot of things we did well (against Arizona), but there are also a ton of things we can improve. Our focus is to continue to show growth. That way our team can get better down the stretch."
That improvement could help the Texans grow into a playoff team in Ryans' first season, perhaps even a division champion if they take the next step by sweeping the Jaguars.
John McClain can be heard Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday on SportsRadio 610 and Monday, Thursday and Sunday on Texans Radio, also on SportsRadio 610. He writes five columns a week and does three Houtopia Football Podcasts for SportsRadio610.com.
