DeMeco Ryans heavily criticized the defensive performance his Houston Texans squad had in their 34-30 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon.

Ryans has been a head coach in the NFL since 2023, going through his fourth year at the helm with the Texans. He has achieved success by leading Houston to the playoffs his first three years, but Year 4 has proved to be his most difficult test to date.

Houston lost the first four games of its season, falling in its latest contest against Dallas. Ryans reflected on the loss after the game as he called out the defense for not helping out the offense.

“Today was not a great finish by our team defensively. It was not good enough. Offense goes out and plays like they played to give us 30 points, defensively we have to find a way to close that game out. It’s disappointing that we’ve been in three games that way. We gotta look at it all and see what changes we need to make and what we need to fix,” Ryans said.

DeMeco Ryans on the loss to the Dallas Cowboys:

“Today was not a great finish by our team defensively. It was not good enough. Offense goes out and plays like they played to give us 30 points, defensively we have to find a way to close that game out. It’s disappointing that… pic.twitter.com/3cWzbdZcbG

— Houston Stressans (@TexansCommenter) October 4, 2026

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Ryans knows Houston is capable of performing better. However, it must dig deep and put together collective performances on both sides of the ball.

“You stick together, and you keep going. That's what it is. All these games, we've been in these games. We just got to find a way to finish these games. That's what it is. It's 0-4, that's our record. That's what it says who we are right now, but how do you come out of it, it's what I told our guys, you stick together. There's no pointing fingers, no blaming. ‘Hey, you look within yourself. [Head Coach] DeMeco [Ryans], what do you have to do better to get it corrected?' That's where I start with myself. How can I get it all corrected?” Ryans said.

The Texans continue the search for their first win this season. They are on the road when they face the Tennessee Titans in Week 5 as kickoff commences on Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. ET.