Winless Texans' Coach Takes Over Defense

DeMeco Ryans, head coach of the Houston Texans, said on Wednesday, 7 October, that he will take over calling the defensive plays from his defensive coordinator, Matt Burke, the assistant in charge of the defense. The Texans have lost all four of their games so far in the National Football League (NFL) season (NFL.com; ESPN).

In American football the play-caller is the coach who picks each play from the sideline and sends it in to the players. Until now Burke made those calls for Houston's defense, which he has run since 2023 (NFL.com).

Ryans said the change was about communication, which his players had pointed to as a problem. "If there's a lack in communication, I look at myself first, so it starts with me and making sure I'm a better communicator," he said at his Wednesday news conference. "So, just to help spark things more, I'm going to take over the play-calling for the defense." He added: "It's no slight against coach Burke. He's done an outstanding job" (NFL.com).

"It's a tough decision to make," Ryans said, adding that he had to do what was best for the team even if not everyone was happy with it (NFL.com; ESPN).

The drop has been sharp. Houston had the league's best defense by total yards allowed in 2025, and under Ryans and Burke it ranked sixth in 2024 (ESPN; NFL.com). This season it is 26th of 32 teams in points allowed, giving up 27.3 a game, and 20th in yards allowed, at 343.8 a game (ESPN). Houston gave up 36 points to the Buffalo Bills in the season opener and 34 to the Dallas Cowboys. No team scored more than 30 against the Texans all of last season; before this year, the last team to do it was the Baltimore Ravens, with 31 on Christmas Day 2024 (ESPN).

The worst part has been the endings. Three of the four losses came after Houston's offense scored a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter (ESPN). In the first week, the Bills drove 96 yards for a touchdown in the final three minutes to win 36⁠–⁠31. In the third week, after quarterback C.J. Stroud led a touchdown drive to give Houston a late lead, the Indianapolis Colts moved 29 yards in six plays to set up a winning field goal, a kick through the posts worth three points, by Spencer Shrader (NFL.com). That came even though the defense forced three turnovers in the game, taking the ball away from the Colts three times (ESPN). The other loss came in the second week against the Cincinnati Bengals, after which the defensive players met without their coaches (ESPN).

The Dallas game was the last straw, NFL.com wrote. Houston led 23⁠–⁠13 early in the third quarter. Dallas fought back in the fourth, and Houston went back in front with a nine-play, 87-yard touchdown drive. Dallas answered by driving 74 yards in less than two minutes, and Dak Prescott threw the winning 12-yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb in the final minute (NFL.com; ESPN).

The players have backed both coaches. "Coach Burke did a really good job. We trust both coaches," said Will Anderson Jr., the team's All-Pro defensive end, an honour for the best players at each position in a season. "DeMeco brings his style of play, the way he plays, the way he coaches, the intensity and the energy he has" (ESPN).

The Texans started the season among the Super Bowl contenders in the American Football Conference (AFC), one of the NFL's two halves, and this is their worst start since 2020 (ESPN). Houston started 0⁠–⁠3 last season and turned it around, but Stroud said after the Dallas loss that "last year's bread isn't going to feed us this year" (ESPN). Only one team in NFL history, the 1992 San Diego Chargers, has reached the playoffs after losing its first four games (NFL.com; ESPN).

The Texans play at the Tennessee Titans, who have also lost all four of their games, on Sunday, 11 October (NFL.com).

What a reader can take from Wednesday in Houston is that the head coach has put the defense, and the blame for it, on himself. Sunday in Tennessee is the first test of whether that changes the endings.