DeMeco Ryans on Texans defense: I don't believe in hype, this isn't 2025, we have to earn it

Leading up to the 2026 season, there was plenty of talk about how good the Texans defense could be — that the unit could help lead Houston to a deep postseason run.

But then Week 1 happened, with the Texans letting up 409 yards and 36 points in the loss to the Bills.

Buffalo does have one of the league’s best quarterbacks in Josh Allen and continuity on offense with former coordinator Joe Brady getting promoted to head coach. So the Bills have the potential to do that to many teams.

Still, it was a disappointing opening for a team that finished No. 1 in yards allowed and No. 2 in points allowed last year.

So did the Texans buy into the offseason hype too much? Did they consume the proverbial rat poison?

“I don’t know,” head coach DeMeco Ryans said in his Monday press conference, via transcript from the team. “You have to ask those guys about the hype. I don’t believe in hype. You’ve heard me stand here many times and talk about people talking about how great the defense was. Yeah, that was 2025. You don’t just line up, and it’s 2026, and just because you were good last year, you got to go out and make the plays. We made plays.

“The difference in this game on Sunday, versus the time we played the guys last year, we took the ball away three times. We go into this game, we don’t take the ball away at all. We turn the ball over two times and we don’t play smart defensively. We’re not where we’re supposed to be. We know the quarterback is going to scramble out to our left — if we don’t stay out to our left and the quarterback runs for a touchdown, they’re going to make plays.”

Ryans added that whatever Houston does this year, it’s not about how good the unit has been in the past.

“You have to put your stamp each and every year on who you’re going to be,” Ryans said. “This is a new team. This isn’t 2025. You have to go earn it. That’s every year in the league, you have to go prove yourself. You can talk about it all you want to, how good you want to be, what are you going to do. You have to go out and make plays.

“That’s always been my message. My message never changes. Talk never matters. When the ball is snapped, what are you doing?”

The Texans will be challenged defensively once again in Week 2, as the Bengals will be in town to face the club at 1 p.m. ET.