Ryans hands over play-calling duties and the Texans come up with their first shutout since 2010

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HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans achieved a feat Sunday that even their mighty defenses powered by J.J. Watt never accomplished when they shut out the Tennessee Titans.

The 26-0 win was Houston’s first shutout since 2010, just the third in franchise history and gave the Texans their first victory this season.

“Huge credit to the defense,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “Having a shutout, it’s hard to do. Extremely hard to do in this league.”

Watt spent 10 years in Houston starting in 2011 and won three AP Defensive Player of the Year awards. The current stars of the team’s defense were shocked to learn that the Texans hadn’t blanked anyone since before he joined the team.

“Really? That’s crazy,” All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley said.

Ryans handed over the defensive play-calling duties that he usually handles to coordinator Matt Burke on Sunday, but said he remained involved in the decision-making.

“We were still talking through what plays we were running, calling, so we worked well in tandem doing that,” Ryans said. “Burke did a really nice job.”

The Texans limited Tennessee to just 175 yards — the eighth fewest in franchise history. They also held the winless Titans to 2 of 11 on third downs.

Stingley, who had his first interception of the season Sunday, believes they’ll be able to build on this performance.

“Definitely because we can play better,” he said. “There’s a lot we’ve still got to clean up.”

Defensive end Danielle Hunter, who had two sacks against the Titans, said their success came from everyone doing their jobs.

“We eliminated our mistakes and we played together as a team,” he said.

The Texans held rookie Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, to a season-low 108 yards passing. He completed just 10 of 26 passes with an interception for a season-worst 35.4 passer rating.

Ryans said he’s been preaching to his defense that no one has to try and do too much, but rather just do what they're supposed to do.

“Everybody was disciplined, where they were supposed to be … we kept pressing,” he said. “Our defensive line did a great job. We did a really good job in the run game. Then our defensive line caused havoc in the passing game. The guys covered really well today.”

The Texans had a season-high 129 yards rushing Sunday after failing to reach 90 yards in their past two games. Houston has struggled to run the ball this season with starter Joe Mixon out indefinitely with a foot injury he sustained in the offseason. Against the Titans, rookie Woody Marks led the way with a season-high 69 yards rushing after combining for just 44 through the first three games and Nick Chubb added 47.

“We ran the ball well,” Ryans said. “That allowed us to continue to sustain drives. We haven’t sustained drives in our previous games.”

The Texans are aiming to start faster offensively after managing just two field goals through the first three quarters on Sunday. Things didn’t look good late in the third quarter when two penalties and a run for a loss had them facing second-and-33 from their 18-yard line.

C.J. Stroud got them out of that hole when he found Nico Collins for a 37-yard gain to continue the drive that led to their first touchdown. Stroud pointed to that play as what kickstarted the offense and he hopes it will carry over next week.

“Sometimes it just takes that one play, that one drive, that one point of emphasis to finally hit, to finally get things rolling that we know that we can do,” he said.

Marks had a touchdown reception and ran for a score Sunday. The fourth-round pick had 50 yards receiving along with his 69 yards rushing to become the first rookie in franchise history to have at least 100 yards of offense with a TD reception and a scoring run in a single game.

WR Christian Kirk hasn’t contributed much the past two games after missing the first two with a hamstring injury. Kirk, who is in his first season in Houston after a trade from the Jaguars, had just 20 yards receiving Sunday after having 25 in his debut in Week 3.

Mixon is eligible to come off the physically unable to perform list this week, but Ryans said he is not ready. It’s unclear how much longer he will be out. … The team is opening up the 21-day practice window for DE Denico Autry (knee) and S Jaylen Reed (knee), who both started the season on the physically unable to perform list.

The Texans averaged an NFL-worst 12.7 points per game through the first three weeks before scoring 26 Sunday.

The Texans will look for continued improvement when they travel to Baltimore (1-3) on Sunday to face a dangerous team that like Houston is off to a tough start. The Texans have lost six straight, including playoffs, to the Ravens and haven’t beat them since before Lamar Jackson joined the team in 2018.

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