After Houston beat the Los Angeles Chargers 32-12 in the NFL playoff opener on Saturday, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans began his locker room interview with his team by saying, “Exceptional work by everyone. How was this week off??”
Ryans was referring to a remark by ESPN commentator and former New York Jets coach Rex Ryan about the first-round game on “Get Up.”
“I never realized the Chargers got a bye, that they qualified for a bye,” Ryan said, “but they did it because they play in Houston.”
After the game, Houston defensive end Will Anderson Jr., a two-time consensus All-American at Alabama, trotted out a favorite phrase of his former coach Nick Saban to explain the Texans’ attitude.
“It’s just the noise outside.” Anderson said Josina Anderson. “It’s rat poison that we can’t listen to.” We hear it, of course. You’d be a fool to say, “Oh, you can’t hear anything.” But we most certainly heard it. We took it on the chin and said, “OK, we got you all. » If that’s what you mean, that’s what we’re going to do.
“And, man, we went out there and played our brand of ball. We started from our standard, from our expectations. Nobody tried to do anything more. Everyone gamed the system.
Neither the Texans nor the Chargers enjoyed a playoff bye. This belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs on the AFC side of the NFL Super Bowl tournament. Houston is the No. 4 seed as the AFC South champion and hosted Saturday’s game even though No. 5 seed Los Angeles’ 11-6 regular season record was a better match than the Texans. The Chargers were favored by oddsmakers to win the game.
“If God is for you, who can be against you? » Anderson said reporters in the Houston locker room. “My mother told me about it, and that’s exactly how I felt. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, like the noise outside. We know what type of team we have. And man, it’s truly a blessing. I’ve never been on a team with this much camaraderie and how special these guys are. The challenge was to seize this moment. This is a special group of guys here that God has brought us together for a season, and we have to accept it and really get into it.
The Texans’ right defensive end, Anderson recorded 1.5 of Houston’s four sacks and recorded three of the Texans’ nine hits against quarterback Justin Herbert.
Herbert had three of his 504 passes recovered during the regular season. But Houston intercepted Herbert four times Saturday, one of which returned for a touchdown.
Anderson described the Texans’ defensive performance as “we’re tight in our rush, they’re sticky in the blanket.”
Following its Wild-Card Weekend victory at home, Houston will be on the road in the divisional round, with its opponent depending on the outcome of the final game of the AFC First Round on Sunday. If the Buffalo Bills beat the Denver Broncos, the Texans will play Kansas City in their next game. If the Broncos topple the Bills, Houston will visit the Baltimore Ravens next weekend.
Baltimore beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-14 on Saturday night.
“One match at a time” Anderson said. “We have to keep stacking.” Keep improving. We can’t relax now. We can’t focus on this victory. We can take advantage of this, but we have to move forward and prepare for our next opponent.
FOR MORE AL.COM NFL COVERAGE, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on @AMarkG1.
