Sportsnaut
The DeMeco Ryans-led Houston Texans boast the NFL’s best defense, which comes as no surprise considering his background as a two-time Pro Bowl linebacker. Their defense, which is allowing just 14.7 points per game, is good enough to keep the Texans in every game they play. However, the offense isn’t living up to expectations.
Last year, they averaged 21.9 points per game. This year, Houston is averaging 21.2 points per game. While there are issues on offense, other phases of the team aren’t executing either.
After another close loss, this time falling 27-19 to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, coach Ryans didn’t mince words. He actually decided to throw one of his players under the bus instead.
Specifically, Ryans wasn’t happy with kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn, who failed to kick the ball out of bounds, despite his instruction to do so. Fairbairn instead kicked the ball deep, allowing the Seahawks to burn a precious six extra seconds off the clock, while taking the two-minute warning out of the picture too.
After the game, Ryans was asked about the play and why he didn’t kick the ball out of bounds. Ryan could have said anything to deflect the question. He opted to tell everyone that his kicker messed up instead.
Fairbairn is 31 years old and in his ninth season with the Texans. He’s making 86.7% of his field goal kicks this season and has yet to whiff on any of his 10 extra point attempts. His field goal accuracy is just above the league average of 84.5%.
Who knows? If there are continued communication issues between the Houston coaching staff and Fairbairn, maybe they would consider a replacement. Yet, since he’s in the second season of a three-year, $15.9 million agreement, the Texans would likely prefer to wait until the offseason to make any changes.
Related: 2025 NFL QB Rankings: Where Does CJ Stroud Rank?
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