DeMeco Ryans emphasized that paying attention to small details can make a big difference

DeMeco Ryans gave an update on his team’s progress heading into the Texans third preseason game. Houston takes on the New York Giants coming up at 12:00pm CT.

Here’s what the head coach had to say on how his team has progressed in camp.

On what guys need to learn and acclimate

DeMeco: Our sports performance staff does a great job of prepping our guys, so we’re ready to push through. Guys – their bodies are good and just pushing through it, but it’s more mental as opposed to their bodies. It’s just a more – it’s a mental thing and that’s what playing in the NFL is about. Everyone is about the same physically, but how you separate yourself mentally. That’s where you separate the best from the rest.

On how player monitoring has changed since he was playing

DeMeco: Player monitoring has changed a lot. It’s the way to go now. It’s the norm opposed to when I was playing when there was no GPS units or tracking when it comes to that. I think we do a much better job and a much smarter job of managing guys, managing their bodies and trying to make sure they’re as healthy as possible, but as we all know this game we play is so fast and explosive. Guys are so strong, where guys are going to get hurt and that’s inevitable. It happens in football and that’s unfortunate, but there are injuries all the time in our space. That’s why these guys are some of the best athletes in the world and it’s a pleasure for all of us to get to work and watch these guys do what they do. They are special, they are talented, they are gifted guys and there are not many guys who can do what our guys do. It’s always a credit to them and it’s such a huge honor to just be here and work with them and see what they go through on a day-to-day basis. What you guys don’t see at practice, you guys don’t see all the recovery and all the things that these guys go through. These guys go through a lot and it’s just a ton of respect for what these guys go through.”

On what he is looking for as we move to the second part of camp

DeMeco: It’s always the small things. You want to make sure guys have something targeted that they can hit. It may be for a tight end, just getting your second foot in the ground, or making sure your target is right. Getting your hat on the outside number. It’s small things that are very targeted, so our guys can know and see when they actually hit it in practice. Whether it’s our eyes, or our footwork, it’s very small things because that’s what separates the great players. It’s guys who can do those little things consistently over and over again. That’s the way to win in this league. Not the wild plays, it’s just you being consistent in the small details of your fundamentals and techniques.