DeMeco Ryans Had a Clear Message for Texans Players After 0-3 Start

After another disappointing weekend in the books against the Indianapolis Colts, the Houston Texans have found themselves right back at the 0-3 record they were at this time last season.

It's far from an ideal hole for any team to be sitting at this point in the season. Since 2020, only one team has managed to leap into the postseason after sinking to 0-3 at the beginning of the year; that being the Texans who managed to do so just last season.

So if there's any team that's capable of climbing out of a gloomy 0-3 pit after three weeks, the Texans would be the ones to do so. They have that experience fresh on their minds, and largely the same personnel on the roster that they had onboard last season.

And for Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, he certainly hasn't lost confidence that his team can make the necessary strides either.

How DeMeco Ryans Is Approaching 0-3 Start

After the Texans' 7-19 loss vs. the Colts, Ryans spoke about where he stands with his team now that they're back to 0-3.

And overall, Ryans message was clear: the only thing to do now is overcome the adversity in front of them, and to do so, that starts with him.

"0-3, that's where we are right now," Ryans said postgame. "The only way we can do anything about it is to go through it. We're going through it right now; it's adversity. It happens. And for me, it starts with me. So, I've got to do a better job of getting our guys ready to roll."

Sep 20, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans during the second quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ryans really has kept a similar message when Texans were in this spot in 2025.

Just last year, Houston dropped to 0-3 after a comparable disappointing Week 3 loss against another AFC South rival Jacksonville Jaguars, and thus led to many sounding the alarms on what the next steps are for this team to get back to their winning ways.

This time around, the Texans will probably face some of that same criticism and overall sense of panic. The passing game looked disheveled in Indianapolis without Nico Collins, the run game showed little signs of life, and multiple questionable coaching decisions were made throughout that led to the end result looking as it did.

Even with that outside noise that the Texans are bound to face, though, Ryans knows that those that are inside the building have to have a sense of focus and unity to climb out of their 0-4 hole once again.

“We keep working. I told our guys everybody’s going to come at us, tell us what we should do, what I should do, everybody has the answers," Ryans said postgame. "But the only way we can get through this is us sticking together."

"I told the guys this week, a divided house cannot stand. So we stand together through it all. I’m standing behind our guys. We’ll keep pushing, keep punching, and we’ll see our way through this.”

The pressure is certainly building on the Texans quickly moving forward. Even if Houston lets their slow start linger for one more week, an 0-4 record through four weeks of the season would make for a situation that no team in NFL history has ever climbed out of before.

So while Ryans is remaining level-headed throughout the Texans' turbulent start, that aspired turnaround is going to have to find a spark sooner rather than later, preferably as soon as Week 4's matchup back at home against the Dallas Cowboys.

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