Two days after the Houston Texans were eliminated from the postseason, coach DeMeco Ryans had to come to the defense of cornerback Kris Boyd. The special teamer regretted shoving special teams coach Frank Ross after the opening kickoff of Saturday’s divisional-round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, and Ryans explained how the entire incident occurred.
“Watching it again, you see Boyd get the ball out, and I think he thought we got it back and he made a great play to get it back for our teams,” Ryans said via team transcript. “It’s something we talked about for our special teams before this game, let’s influence the game by receiving the ball.
“Boyd thought he did that, got the ball back and came over excited, too excited to have made a play, but we can’t lose our minds in that sense of taking the helmet off, we still have to do it. “You can’t take the helmet off in a game Everyone knows and understands the rules. So instead of helping us, he ended up hurting us.”
As for the push that went viral and was discussed at length after the game? Ryans didn’t think Boyd was being disrespectful.
“I don’t think he was pressuring Frank [Ross] in a disrespectful way,” Ryans said. “I think he was more excited, overly excited and thought he made a play to help us. “So that narrative that he’s pressuring a coach is incorrect.”
Boyd was not benched for his actions. He addressed the incident after the game, confirming that his frustration was due to the Texans’ failure to recover the fumble and admitting fault for not only costing his team 15 yards, but also for making physical contact with his position coach.
“That’s not in my character. I love everyone here. I love my coaches. I never disrespect anyone,” Boyd said via Pro Football Talk. “I love Frank, I’m a God-fearing man, I respect everyone. It was a little 10-second thing that happened. It’s football. I never disrespect anyone. That’s not my character.”
