Houston Texans Coach DeMeco Ryans Unbothered By Fans Early Departure

The Houston Texans defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 39-37 in Week 9, but some fans of the team missed the thrilling conclusion.

It wasn’t quite the scene that 2013 NBA Finals Game 6 was when Miami Heat fans left too early and ended up missing a thrilling overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs, but as the Houston Texans appeared to be losing their Week 9 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fans started to exit NRG Stadium before the game was actually over.

Little did those fans know, and little faith did they have in their Texans, that quarterback C.J. Stroud was about to set an all-time NFL rookie passing record and lead his team on a six-play touchdown-scoring drive covering 75 yards in just 40 seconds.

With that, Houston won the game 39-37, and so many fans missed it because they decided to leave with 46 seconds left on the clock and their team down by four points.

It’s something that will haunt those Texans fans, surely, but not coach DeMeco Ryans.

“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” Ryans said when asked his thoughts on fans leaving before the end of the game. “If people want to be here, they’ll show up. And if you want to stay through the entire game, you’ll stay. We just go play our game. We’ll play until the clock says 0:00. We love our fans for showing up and being loud.”

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans (blue shirt) says it doesn’t mean anything to him that some fans left early in the team’s Week 9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers / USA Today

When the season began there weren’t many who expected much from Ryans, his rookie quarterback, or Houston’s NFL franchise altogether.

Now, nine weeks into the season, the Texans are arguably the surprise of the year and currently in ninth place in the AFC and less than two games from holding the final Wild Card Playoffs spot in the conference.

Stroud is the NFL’s seventh-ranked passer in yards, eighth in touchdowns, and has fewer interceptions than 40 other quarterbacks in the league this season.

Ryans is making his case for NFL Coach of the Year honors as Stroud states his case to take home the offensive rookie award, and both are making one heck of a case that Houston fans shouldn’t just show up to games, they should stick around to the end.