Demeco Ryans believes Texans can play with anybody  

Confidence is high again in Houston, and it all took was a win over big brother. 

The Texans snapped a two-game skid on Monday Night Football with a 34-10 win against the Dallas Cowboys, largely thanks to a pass rush that counted for five sacks on quarterback Cooper Rush.  

Rushing for 100 yards and three touchdowns, Joe Mixon carried the offense on a night that C.J. Stroud would probably like to forget - failing to throw a touchdown pass for only the sixth time in his career. 

Regardless, the win has the Texans back on track for the third or fourth seed behind the Chiefs and Bills in the AFC, and it sounds as though head coach Demeco Ryans is bullish on his team making a deep run in the playoffs.

“I just want our guys to remain focused, remain locked in on the task at hand each week,” Ryans told reporters. 

“If we do that, we’re a really good football team. We can play with anybody; it’s just about finishing.” 

The Texans team that showed up to Jerry World was the complete opposite of the one fans had grown frustrated watching in recent weeks. 

Managing only 15 second-half points over their last four games, the Texans exploded for two second-half touchdowns and a field goal after leading the Cowboys by only seven points at the main break. 

Surprisingly, the Texans’ first second-half score came on a fumble recovery returned to the house by defensive end Derek Barnett – Houston's first second-half touchdown since the Week 6 win over the Patriots. 

“For the second half, it meant it wasn’t just our offense. A lot of the stories have been about our offense, but I look at it defensively – we haven’t finished in the second half. 

For our team to go out and really play a complete second half and to shut them out in the second half, that was a bigger deal to me than scoring a touchdown,” Ryans went on to say. 

The Texans have two winnable games ahead against the Titans and Jaguars before a late Week 14 bye. The schedule really ramps up with back-to-back games against Chiefs and Ravens over the final month though, which will no doubt put Ryans’s statement to the test.