The Houston Texans didn’t just smash the Los Angeles Chargers 44-22 at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, piling up five touchdowns and tying a franchise record with eight sacks. Head Coach DeMeco Ryans followed up that absolute clinic with a post-game locker room speech that had everyone talking, especially when he gave offensive coordinator Nick Caley a game ball, delivering a short, sharp message for all the critics out there.
Ryans Drops a Post-Game Bomb
After handing out game balls to quarterback C.J. Stroud, receivers Tank Dell and Kayshon Boutte, and the entire defensive line, Ryans had one more for his offensive coordinator. The message? Crystal clear, loud, and totally unapologetic. “Everybody not in the league thinks they can call plays,” Ryans shouted. “This guy catches a lot of slack all the freaking time. Proud of you, man.” If that’s not a direct shot at the haters, I don’t know what is. Caley has been a whipping boy for Texans fans and a constant topic for sports-talk radio ever since he took over play-calling duties from Bobby Slowik after the 2024 season. It seems Ryans has had enough of the noise.
From Whipping Boy to Winning Ways
Caley definitely earned that game ball after the offense exploded like that. The Texans put up 485 total yards against the Chargers, their most since a 2023 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Remember, Caley’s first season in 2025 saw the Texans rank 13th in points per game with 23.8. Now, they’re sitting at ninth with 26.1 points per game, a solid jump from Slowik’s final 2024 season average of 21.9 points (19th overall). Ryans didn’t mince words, saying after the win, “The offense has scored a ton of points all year and he doesn’t get all the recognition that he deserves. He’s done a great job of calling it, mixing it up, taking shots, being aggressive and our guys are making big plays because of that.” Even Stroud backed him up in the post-game press conference. Stroud himself was heavily criticized all offseason after a rough playoff performance and a tough overtime loss to the New York Giants where he was held to just 153 yards and two touchdowns. But against the Chargers, he bounced back huge, completing 21 of 35 passes for 384 yards and five touchdowns. Stroud echoed his coach, saying Caley “gets a lot of slack as well and everybody has an opinion nowadays, but me and him got the opportunity to go do something about it, so I have the utmost trust in him.” He praised Caley’s aggressive play-calling, showing faith in the entire offense.
It’s clear that the outside noise definitely seeps into the locker room, but after putting up 44 points and over 450 yards, as Ryans pointed out, that’s “pretty good play-calling” in anyone’s book. With Stroud on pace for the best year of his career in Caley’s second season, the Texans offense is riding some serious momentum right now.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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