HOUSTON – Inside the Texans’ team meeting room Saturday evening, coach DeMeco Ryans delivered an inspirational message about gritty toughness, resiliency, heart and determination.
Ryans’ example for the team, an underdog at home heading into a pivotal Sunday game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, was a heavyweight boxing match.
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Daniel Peter Williams, a British championship boxer called ‘Dynamite Dan’ who once defeated legend Mike Tyson, dislocated his right shoulder in a match against Mark Potter for the vacant British title. Despite the pain, he fought through the injury for two rounds and won the match with a resounding left uppercut for the knockout win in the sixth round a quarter-century ago.
The message resonated with the Texans, galvanizing them the night before one of the greatest comebacks in franchise history. They rallied behind two touchdown passes and a game-winning touchdown run from backup quarterback Davis Mills and a top-ranked defense that allowed just 11 yards in the fourth quarter, scoring 26 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 36-29, at NRG Stadium to improve to 4-5 overall.
“DeMeco, just how he’s running the program, man, and just instilling in us,keep having that same mentality: Keep showing up, keep fighting, never quit,” Texans Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said. “He showed an awesome video of a boxer who dislocated his shoulder and ended up in the sixth round knocking his opponent out with one hand. I really think it touched all of us last night.”
The Texans won their first one-score game of the season after going winless in that situation five previous times this season. Those setbacks are why the defending AFC South champions are clinging to precarious wild-card playoff hopes as the Indianapolis Colts have raced ahead in the division with an 8-2 record.
The Texans overcame adversity Sunday.
It was a brutal start as Mills was intercepted by Jaguars cornerback Jarrian Jones in the first quarter.
Then, kick returner Tremon Smith fumbled a kickoff back to he Jaguars.
And the special teams looked terrible on a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown from Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington, a Travis High graduate.
“I look at the game as I look at life,“ Ryans said. ”Bad things are going to happen. Do you hang your head and go run and hide? Do you quit? Do you give up? No, you keep punching. In life, in football, you got to keep punching and that’s what this game showed today. You just have to keep playing with heart, playing with resilience and hopefully the film shows our guys proof that we can battle and win in any type of game. ..
“It’s the best second half we’ve had, because we played complementary football. Everything that could go wrong went wrong, as soon as the game started. So, for us to battle and have that resilience, that’s what good football looks like. That’s what we’ve been missing.”
The Texans didn’t fold. Instead, they showed a resolve unseen many times this season.
This felt a lot like the way the Texans used to win games during the first two seasons under Ryans’ leadership as they won consecutive AFC South titles.
“DeMeco, he showed us a video last night, and it was about a heavyweight fight, and the guy whose shoulder is dislocated, he’s fighting with one arm in the sixth round,” Texans linebacker and team captain Azeez Al-Shaair said. “And he just told us, ‘Whatever happens, no matter what, just keep fighting.’ And so you just see this guy, I don’t even remember the guy’s name, but it was a whole fight, and he just shows the guy, knocked this dude out with one arm while his other arm was dislocated.
“And the message for us was just keep swinging. So all day, that’s just what we kept thinking about I’m like, ‘Bro, our shoulder was dislocated early, first quarter.’ So, you gotta finish the game.”
The Texans finished strongly, including defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins rumbling ahead for a game-sealing touchdown off a strip-sack from Anderson.
“Some things didn’t go the way we wanted it, but we stayed resilient,” Anderson said. “Everybody kept doing their job to the best of their ability. I really feel like Everybody showed up to their best version of their job today, and that’s how we got the outcome.
“We really needed that win, man. And I think as a team, you can just see the camaraderie. You can see how everybody really wanted this win as well. You can see how we kept fighting for however long it took. Nobody got discouraged. Everybody kept fighting. I just think that shows the type of team we’ve got.”
What does the win mean in the big picture? Well, not much if the Texans can’t sustain this type of performance and stack some wins.
They should be able to defeat the Tennessee Titans next week on the road to sweep the season series and even their record at 5-5. If they do so, the road to a potential wild-card playoff spot won’t be easy. Their following three games are against the Buffalo Bills, Colts and Kansas City Chiefs, the team that beat them in the AFC divisional round last January.
“I take this moment right now and I’m going to relish in this moment and love this moment for how our team battled,” Ryans said. “Yes, I hope it’s a springboard for us moving throughout this season, that we continue to see that it doesn’t matter what the scoreboard looks like. It’s about how you execute, how you finish, how you play together and how you have that belief in one another and in yourself to go out and finish games like this.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com