Everything Texans HC DeMeco Ryans said following Houston's bye week

Here's everything Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said following their bye week, including an update on the offensive line, their battle with the Seattle Seahawks and C.J. Stroud's growth following his back-to-back strong outings to help the team improve to 2-3.

Question: On Seattle Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

DeMeco Ryans: “JSN’ has done an outstanding job this year for Seattle. [Seattle Seahawks QB Sam] Darnold has found a nice target to throw to and he's made that entire offense go. Whether you're covering him or not, he's making explosive plays game after game. He continues to show up. JSN, he's definitely having a Pro Bowl-caliber year. He's doing an outstanding job.”

Q: On what makes the Seattle Seahawks front seven so strong

Ryans “Starting up front with their defensive line and the interior piece with their [defensive] tackles, [Byron] Murphy [II], [Jarran] Reed, [Leonard] Williams. They're really big guys inside, strong. It's hard to move those guys inside, so it starts there. Then on the edge, is really smart players on the edge, with [Uchenna] Nwosu, [Boye] Mafe and all the guys that they have, DeMarcus Lawrence. All those guys doing a really nice job on the edge. Their entire defensive line, I feel like that's the strength of their defense. It's going to be a challenge for us to handle their front. It's all going start there. Any team that's been able to move the ball versus these guys, you have to do a good job versus their front. They're good in the run game, also in the pass game with the stunts that they run. They don't have to pressure much because they get a lot of pressure with their front four guys, so it'll be a huge challenge for us, challenge for our offensive line this week.”

On what he remembers from playing in Lumen Field

“It's a fun place to play because of the environment. I think when you think about football environments in different stadiums, Seattle is one of those stadiums that ranks pretty high to me when it comes to… You talk about a rowdy bunch. It's going to be loud, the crowd noise is going to be there, the fans are going be into it. Their players do a good job of making plays and feeding into the crowd, getting the crowd hyped up. So, it's always a fun place to play, always a tough place to play. It's challenging because of the noise, the environment. But you have to be able to block that out and as many times I've been in there, when you can block that out and just focus on executing, doing the things you need to do to play good football, that's what's going help you to quiet the crowd.”

Q: On the landscape of the AFC and how it affects the team’s playoff hunt

Ryans: “That doesn't creep into my mind at all about where the other AFC teams are, what their record is. It's still early in the season. A lot of teams had a lot of really good starts to the season. But we all know, and it’s our focus, it's all about how you finish the season. It's all about how your team grows throughout the season. Just because you have a great start doesn't mean it's going to be a great finish. You just continue to work, control what you can control and you truly focus on one game at a time. That's all that matters. You can't focus on what the other teams are doing, the outcome of their games. It really doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with how you go and play, how you go and prepare. You don't do anything different because other teams are where they are record-wise. It's truly focusing on us and getting better.”

Q: On what he attributes to the defense having so much success

Ryans “Our defense has done a really nice job because of the players and the work that they put in. We have outstanding players, outstanding men, not just players who go out. But they work the right way. Every single week, every single day in practice, they work together. When they play together, it's a tough unit to beat. We're on it mentally, we're not making mistakes. We make people have to make plays to beat us. We know that'll be the challenge this week. Just because we’re covering them and we’re in position… We’ve seen ‘JSN’ many times, guys are in coverage, they’re on him and he still goes up. You got to be able to make a play and compete on the football. That'll be the challenge this week. But I'm really proud of where our guys are. It's been a great start, but you have to keep working. You have to keep plowing because we know teams are going give us their best shot.”

Q: On S Jalen Pitre’s season so far

“Jalen is playing lights out for us. He is all over the field. He's asked to do many different things throughout a game. He's the one guy who's very cerebral enough, smart enough to go out and handle whatever we ask of him defensively. Whether that's blitzing, whether it's playing in coverage, whether it's playing back deep. All three levels of the defense, Jalen provides us that flexibility to be able to move him around wherever we need to put him each week. So, to have a player who is as smart as he is and as reliable as he is, it really gives you a comfort as a play caller. It gives you comfort to be able to know that if we want something to happen, you turn Jalen on. When he's on, he's going find a way to make plays in the backfield. He finds a way to get the football. The way he's attacking the football, I’d love to see that continue. He's doing a great job of being a true spark plug for our entire team.”

Q: On if S Jalen Pitre reminds him of himself as a player

“Not at all. He's way better than me. I had one little position right in the middle, stopped the run, that's about it. Jalen is a tremendous guy off the field, too. He was our Walter Payton Man of the Year [nominee] last year. He was that recipient because of the great things he's done in the community. All around, talk about a great guy on the field and off the field. That's what it looks like in Jalen Pitre. I'm proud to say that I'm able to coach Jalen Pitre.”

Q: On what’s been working the past couple weeks offensively

Ryans: "The things that worked the past couple of weeks offensively is us being able to stay committed to the run game and run the football. When you can run the ball, you can sustain drives. That's the key. That'll be the key for us moving forward. If we can do that. we can control the line of scrimmage, get positive plays in the running game. That allows us, that allows [Nick] Caley to be able to open up the playbook and call whatever he wants, whatever he's installed that particular week. Everything is at his disposal when you can stay on schedule. That's what has been working the past two weeks.”

Q: On what makes Seattle effective in play-action and what goes into defending it

Ryans: “For Seattle, they're good at the play action pass game because [Klint] Kubiak has done a good job wherever he's been as a play call. He's done a really good job of establishing the outside zone scheme. With the outside zone scheme comes the keepers off of the outside zone action. So, he's done a really good job of marrying both run game and passing game, meaning they both look very similar. So, the play action pass game works because of the offensive line and how they come off the football. How they make the run look exactly like the pass. It puts the second level defenders in a bind where, ‘are you stepping up to defend the run? Or can you key it and diagnose it quick enough to understand that it's pass and now I need to drop in coverage.’ So, they've done a really good job starting with Kenneth Walker III in the run game. He's a really, really good running back in this league. He's done a really nice job. When you have him running the ball the way he runs it, guys are going to commit. Once you get guys to step up two or three steps off, now [Sam] Darnold has done a good job of getting on the edges and making good decisions down the field. He's had a lot of guys open in those play action passing concepts. That's why they've been successful as well. A lot of guys are wide open.”

Q: What steps it took to get the defense to this point

Ryans: “For me, the defense, we haven't changed what we've done. Again, the defense is credit to the players. It’s nothing to do with coaches and what we do as coaches. It's all about the players and what they're doing on the field. That's why the defense is good. It's not a magical answer that's out there. Our guys have played well, starting with our front. Our defensive line has played well, specifically versus the run game. After the Tampa Bay game, it felt like we've done a really nice job of playing the run and we've improved our tackling as the season has gone on. But, if we continue to improve the things we need to improve, that's tackling, stopping the run, that's attacking the football. We do those things and that's what the players have done. That's why we play a good ball on defense.”

Q: On LB E.J. Speed

“E.J. [Speed] has done a really nice job for us when it comes to the WILL linebacker position, having a guy as athletic and fast, sideline to sideline as E.J., that's what he's provided for us. He can cover up space really well. He's done a good job of tackling as well. That's why he's been out there for us. He's been making plays for us, and he's earned that right to get more opportunities. So, pleased with where he is. He still has room to grow. He's still learning it and growing as we go throughout the season. But I’m encouraged with where he is right now.”

Q: On if there’s plans for someone to be activated this week

“We'll see how the week goes.”

Q: On matching packages based on the Seattle’s tendencies

“When it comes to that chess match, I'm not going to give all my secrets away to you. But we'll try to keep them on their toes as best as we can.”

Q: On T Tytus Howard leading the offensive line unit

“When guys get criticized on the football field it's easy to criticize offensive linemen, cornerbacks and the quarterback, because that's the easiest thing for everybody to see when things go bad. But there's a lot of good that's been going on with our offensive line. I highlight that in our team meetings, and Tytus is one of the guys who's been consistent. That's what offensive line play is about. It's about playing consistent. It's about playing within yourself, not getting overextended but doing your job, down in and down out without a lot of glory, without a lot of pats on the back. It's a very selfless position. He's done a really great job throughout this year so far. He's improved. He's done a great job of anchoring the right side for us and I’m very proud of him, not only for his play, but Tytus has also grown as a leader. Seeing him become more vocal, communicating amongst the offensive linemen. That's what I'm most proud of with Tytus, besides the play. It's how he's grown into that leadership role and that's what we needed from him.”

This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans HC DeMeco Ryans said following Houston's bye week