History-making opportunity for Texans against Ravens for a franchise that hasn’t reached AFC title game: ‘Means a lot’

BALTIMORE, MD – Inside the Texans’ locker room, the mantra hasn’t changed. A painful playoff history doesn’t matter.

They’re determined to create their own history Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC divisional round playoff game at M&T Bank Stadium.

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After finishing 3-13-1 last season, the Texans are 11-7 and won the AFC South division this year with the leadership of coach DeMeco Ryans galvanizing the organization and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud lifting the offense.

The Texans, though, are the only AFC South team to never reach the AFC championship game. Four years ago, the Texans were embarrassed in a 51-31 blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional round.

This game represents an opportunity for the Texans to have the most successful team in franchise history.

“Man, it means a lot,” Texans running back Devin ‘Motor’ Singletary said. “We’ve got a great opportunity. We’re looking forward to that opportunity. We’ll see how it plays out. Hopefully, we can come out with a win.”

A dozen years ago against the Ravens, the Texans lost an AFC divisional round game at Baltimore, 20-13, as rookie quarterback T.J. Yates was intercepted three times. Despite running back Arian Foster rushing for 132 yards and a touchdown, wide receiver Andre Johnson catching eight passes for 111 yards and defensive end J.J. Watt recording 12 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks and three tackles for losses, the Texans came up short.

Ryans had seven tackles, one for a loss, in that defeat, the last of his Texans playing career.

A win Saturday would make Ryans the first rookie head coach to advance to the conference championship game since Matt LaFleur in 2019 with the Green Bay Packers.

Ryans helped the Texans become the fourth team in NFL history to win a playoff game with a rookie head coach with a 45-14 wild-card victory over the Cleveland Browns. The Texans joined the 1945 Los Angeles Rams, 2008 Ravens, and 2009 New York Jets. If the Texans win Saturday, they will join the 2008 Ravens and 2009 Jets as the only teams in NFL history to win two playoff games with a rookie quarterback and a first-year head coach.

The Texans have improved dramatically since a 25-9 season-opening loss to the Ravens on Sept. 10 in Baltimore

Stroud has passed for 4,382 yards. He completed 16 of 21 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions for a 157.2 passer rating. He became the youngest quarterback to win a playoff game in NFL history, surpassing Michael Vick.

“A poised quarterback,” veteran wide receiver Robert Woods said. “C.J., he’s a good quarterback. Especially as a rookie to go through all his progressions and to have command of the team, command of the offense and a good relationship with the players and the OC to speak his opinion, it’s really fun. He can sling it and see plays outside of the pocket. He’s a great quarterback.”

The Texans are 0-4 in the divisional round, but none of those teams had Stroud under center. The only Pro Bowl quarterback to play in those previous postseason games was Deshaun Watson.

The Texans are a 9 1/2 point underdog despite being 7-3 in one-score games this season.

“We’re focused on going 1-0 this week,” Stroud said. “We’ll figure it out after that. I’m not really focused on after that -- it’s all about going 1-0 and trying to do as best we can in this game.”

Stroud completed 28 of 44 passes for 242 yards with no interceptions or touchdowns in the first game of the season. He lost one fumble and was sacked five times. He had a 78.0 passer rating, his second-lowest of the season.

“Where he’s shown the most growth is his calmness and his confidence,” Ryans said. “Looking back at the Ravens game, he’s made some big-time plays. He’s been the same player. He’s grown as a leader has really stepped up big time.

“When we’ve needed it most, like the entire season and now in this moment, he’s the leader we need him to be. He’s the player we need him to be. His demeanor on and off the field is exactly what you want out of a starting quarterback.”

After going 11-38-1 in the previous three seasons, including a combined tenure of one-and-done coaching stints from Lovie Smith and David Culley, former coach and general manager Bill O’Brien and interim coach Romeo Crennel, Ryans was at the heart of engineering a dramatic turnaround.

“DeMeco is a perfect guy for this job,” Stroud said. “He brings something out of his players that it’s indescribable just like that mental stability, that toughness that he talks about.”

Setting a demanding standard for practice, Ryans is a tough boss. He’s also not asking the players to do anything he hasn’t done before as a hard-hitting two-time Pro Bowl selection.

“For me, when you talk about my leadership approach, it’s all about positive reinforcement,” Ryans said. “It’s all about positive energy. It’s all about just getting better one day at a time and that’s what I try to instill in all of our guys – just a get better mentality. I think our guys have taken that on.

“Each and every week we’ve gotten better. Always things to improve on, things to clean up, but all I want is just our guys to continue to do their best and strive to get better every single day.”

One year ago, the Texans were circling the drain toward the end of another season with no meaningful games and the conversation surrounding the team focused on needing to continue a lengthy rebuild.

The Texans had fired their head coach for the third consecutive year before recruiting Ryans to come home.

Now, the former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year is back with the Texans and has led them back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2019 season when they lost in the divisional round to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

“I expect it to be a physical football game,” linebacker Blake Cashman said. “That’s the DNA of the Baltimore Ravens. I expect the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens to be playing their best ball. I expect it to be a game that comes down all the way to the wire.”

“Those boys got a dawg mentality,” wide receiver Nico Collins said. “We’re dawgs, too. It’s going to be a fun matchup. We feed off the fans’ energy. We’re doing it for the city. The city needed it. The organization needed it. We all needed it.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com