HOUSTON -- Rewind back to Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio's news conference on Jan. 21.
Houston was coming off a frustrating divisional round playoff loss to the New England Patriots three days prior -- dropping their all-time divisional round record to 0-7. Quarterback C.J.
Stroud threw four interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and running back Woody Marks fumbled once. The Texans' defense held their own in the 28-16 loss , forcing quarterback Drake Maye into three turnovers (two fumbles and an interception), but even one of the league's best defenses -- fewest yards allowed (277.2 yards per game), second-fewest points (17.2) -- couldn't save the day.
It was the third straight year Houston lost in the second round after dominating the opening round under coach DeMeco Ryans. But when asked about why Houston fell short, Caserio zeroed in on execution.
"In the end we didn't execute well enough," Caserio said. "You can't turn the ball over five times in the divisional round.
Taking care of the football is the single most important stat correlated to winning. Look it up.
It's the truth." The explanation appears as a glibly response, but this offseason, Ryans has fixated on being a smarter football team with a sprinkle of enhanced physicality in the trenches to help work toward executing deep in the playoffs. During OTAs and mandatory minicamp, walk-through reps emphasized being in the right spots from the playcall.
There weren't many 11-on-11 reps outside of two-minute and third-down situations. All key moments that have hindered the Texans in the playoffs.
"I've grown as a head coach," Ryans said. "For me, it's more so now about how much smarter can we play as a team.
How can we be more elite on our execution? Our communication, can it be louder?
Can we echo it more? Can we truly be tied together every time we line up?
That's what I've seen when I talk about the process of us this year being better." Mistakes in crucial moments have plagued Houston. In 2024 against the Kansas City Chiefs , Houston was on its way to countering a late first-half touchdown.
The Texans were able to advance the ball to the Chiefs' 25-yard line with 41 seconds remaining in the first half. Then Stroud was sacked on second-and-5, and on the next play guard Shaq Mason was called for holding during a 12-yard scramble from Stroud -- putting Houston into a third-and-23.
Instead of potentially scoring a touchdown to close the gap, Houston had to settle for a field goal to go into half with a 13-6 deficit. When the Texans opened the second half with a touchdown from running back Joe Mixon , kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn missed the extra point.
It was the little things piling up in the 23-14 loss . Fast forward back to January when Houston was on the Patriots' 49-yard line trailing 21-10 with two minutes remaining in the first half, Stroud's fourth interception of the half left them short once again.
Now that's not to attach defeat to late first-half blunders, but it illustrates how small the margins are, especially in the playoffs when facing the best of the best. That's why this offseason has been different for the Texans and their preparation.
Houston has focused on the attention to detail pre-snap. "The most improvement I've seen from our team is the pre-snap communication," Ryans said.
"Offensively, defensively, communication has been lights out. We're way ahead of, again, where we've been in the past because of that communication -- us just playing smart, being a smarter football team and understanding situations better.
I feel like we're in a really good place right now." What has helped the communication process is schematic seasoning and familiarity instead of installing new systems. "Guys are just able to handle more because it's the second year in our offense, fourth year in our defense," Ryans said.
"It's a given, but it's also the veterans that we have -- the leaders that we have at each and every position -- allows me to see it, step back as a head coach and see we just need to keep fine-tuning the details. Not necessarily every period is a competitive get-after-it period.
"It's more of a mental check, and that's what we're working on this offseason, and we'll continue to develop that in the training camp." With training camp starting July 29, the Texans will enter it with high expectations, and they're not afraid to voice that per All-Pro defensive end Will Anderson Jr . Anderson calls everyone on the roster a "S