DeMeco Ryans and Houston Texans 'Don't Care About Expectations'

DeMeco Ryans isn't worried about the new lofty expectations for the Texans

Sep 17, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans shakes hands with / Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Texans had perhaps the best offseason of any NFL team over the last few weeks, landing multiple big-time acquisitions through both free agency and the trade market.

The additions began with the signing of star edge rusher Danielle Hunter and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair in free agency to bolster the defense. They then made a pair of trades for running back Joe Mixon and receiver Stefon Diggs to add a pair of star-level talents to the offense.

After those moves, along with various other saavy additions throughout the offseason, the Texans became the talk of the NFL, and began to garner serious expectations for next season.

Despite those distractions, however, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans revealed that neither he, nor his team are worried about the outside noise.

Sep 17, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans shakes hands with / Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

“We don’t care about expectations,” Ryans said on Monday. “Talk doesn’t win games. We have to go out and play good football when the time comes... We’re always hunting. That doesn’t change for us. Expectations on the outside, whatever that may be, it doesn’t change who we are. The expectation from the outside doesn’t permeate inside our building.”

Of course, this will be uncharted territory for Ryans and most his players.

Before coming to Houston last year, the Texans were an AFC bottom dweller, going a combined 7-26-1 in the previous two seasons. In fact, even after a transformative offseason in 2023, Houston was still seen as nothing more than an up-and-coming rebuilding project, that was supposed to take time to develop.

Instead, as the underdog for most of the year, the Texans thrived, winning the AFC South and a playoff game behind the play of AFC Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year winners C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr.

Now heading into 2024, they will be a target for everyone on their schedule, and will get every other team's best shot from Week 1.

That said, if the Texans can make even a fraction of the jump from Year 1 to Year 2 under Ryans as they did in their first season, they should be in good shape come playoff time, regardless of outside expectation.