Dave Canales Talks About The Challenge of Playing Houston's Defense

Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales is going to be facing off against DeMeco Ryans after having a lot of experience game planning against him in the past.

This is not the first time that Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales is preparing for a matchup against a DeMeco Ryans-led defense.

Canales worked on the Seattle Seahawks offensive staff from 2010 until this year and DeMeco Ryans was the defensive coordinator in San Francisco from 2021 until last season and joined their defensive staff in 2017.

Since 2017, the two teams matched up against each other 13 times including the playoffs. The Seahawks got the better of the 49ers going 8-5 against them over that stretch and their offense averaged 24 points per game.

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Canales spoke to the Tampa Bay media on Thursday about the challenge of facing a DeMeco Ryans' defense

"Up front, those guys are a penetrating defense and are firing off the ball. It is really hard to score touchdowns in the red zone because of the way they play they swarm to the ball. 

"Earlier in the season I don't think they understood what he was asking him to do. But if you look over these last few games they are firing off the ball. I see the same signature, he is definitely getting them closer to what I was seeing in San Francisco."

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The Canales-led Buccaneers offense has been up and down this season, but they currently rank 27th in points per game (17.3 ppg).

In their three-game losing streak they have taken a dip averaging 12 points per game over that time. So they will need to show some promise against Houston.

The Houston defense has been turned around under Ryans - going from ranking 27th in points allowed last year to currently ranking 6th in the league (18.3 ppg).

Ryans has come in and brought some much-needed stability and a promising future to that franchise which has been very dysfunctional over the last few seasons.

Beyond Ryans and the defense, a huge part of their success has been rookie QB CJ Stroud who already looks like a seasoned veteran.

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