The Houston Texans made the best of their historic opportunity to confirm their slot in the playoffs. After securing a 20-16 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday, they not only secured their 11th win of the season but also clinched notable success by claiming the third consecutive playoff berth. However, the victory didn’t come without troubles as their linebacker, Azeez Al-Shaair, stepped forward to question the reliability of green-dot radio.

“It’s actually hard to kind of hear some of the words sometimes,” Al-Shaair said, in a recent posted by the Houston Stressans on X.

“Then we got some weird calls that sound like other calls like even going back to the Chargers game last year in the playoffs D’Amico had called it up one play I thought he was saying something else and I’m like he told me he wouldn’t call that play so I ended up calling a different play on my own thinking that maybe he had just made a mistake.”

The comments meant that even when a coach sends a play into the defense, it can be hard to hear or understand exactly what is meant. He talked about the playoff game vs the Chargers as an example. The game made him encounter a situation where he wasn’t sure what the coach, DeMeco Ryans, had told the defense to do. Instead of waiting or guessing wrong, Al-Shaair trusted his instincts and made a call on his own.

That decision helped lead to a big moment as the Texans’ defense got an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Eric Murray. The pick-six was a turning point and helped Houston win that playoff game.

The decision helped the Texans clinch a spot in the 2026 NFL Playoffs with an 11–5 record. They finished the game on an eight-game winning streak, overcoming a concerning 0–3 start. This turned out to be only the second time in team history that they’ve made the postseason after starting with a losing streak.

How DeMeco Ryans made history in his third year as the Texans’ coach?

DeMeco Ryans continues to break franchise records in his third season as head coach of the Houston Texans. He became the first Texans head coach to record three straight seasons with 10 or more wins, with the 2025 team finishing 11–5 after a strong run late in the year. This also marked the third consecutive playoff berth under his leadership, something the franchise had never done before.

The Texans went on a long winning streak after losing the first three games and eventually clinched their playoff spot with a key Week 17 victory. That turnaround highlighted Ryans’ ability to keep the team competitive through adversity. Under Ryans, the Texans’ overall record over three seasons showed consistent improvement compared to the losing records they had before his arrival.

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Along with that, Ryans and the quarterback C.J. Stroud became only the fourth head coach–quarterback duo in NFL history to make the playoffs together in each of their first three seasons. His success in building a reliable defense and maintaining a high winning standard placed him among the top coaches in the league over that period. The QB now sits at a massive 18 touchdowns for 2872 yards but with 8 interceptions as well.