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DeMeco Ryans: 'We don't play for the coaches'
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Several Texans players met with local media Monday to discuss 'who's to blame' for the latest in what seems like a never-ending series of debacles for this franchise.
Most of the players gave the standard takes about how blame is equally shared and it's everyone's fault, etc., but one player's comments stuck out to me in particular.
When asked how players deal with the heat that is pointed at defensive coordinator Richard Smith, company man DeMeco Ryans responded by saying “We don’t look at it. We look at it as players and we feel like we all have to step up and play better. We don’t play for the coaches. We play for each other when we step out there on the field and that’s what I tell the guys that it’s about. It’s about us sticking it up and sticking it out there on the line for each other. That’s what it’s about."
We don’t play for the coaches. We play for each other... DeMeco Ryans
In other words, we know our scheme sucks so we're all just circling the wagons as players until we get a new scheme in here. And by the way, that's step two on the three step program to team meltdown. The last step is when the players start playing only for themselves. Luckily it doesn't seem like we're there yet - as we were in 2005.
But there's still seven weeks to go in the season.
Yes I'm taking huge liberties with DeMeco's words and in the absence of context that can be dangerous. It could have been a totally innocent remark but when pressed about whether there are scheme problems, Ryans went on to say "no matter what the call is, no matter what (defensive coordinator) Richard (Smith) calls, we have to play. We have to line up and play the right technique and play with a lot of energy and play with a lot of passion and make plays happen."
In other words, yeah the scheme sucks, which is confirmed by the absence of a 'we still believe in Richard Smith' comment anywhere in the interview. That's about as close to a public non-endorsement as you will get out of players coached to not speak their minds in interviews with the media.
For the record, Ryans did say 'we still believe in Kubiak and the coaching staff' but he didn't mention Smith specifically.
Of course these comments aren't as telling as when Jamie Sharper sealed his fate here by calling out the team's lack of leadership a few years back, but it's about as close as you can get to a Texans player publicly non-endorsing this coordinator and his system.
Are those cries for help we hear coming from the locker room?
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