Yikes. New Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is excited to share the practice field with Mike McDaniel’s Miami Dolphins later this summer, having scheduled a couple of joint practice sessions with Miami before their preseason game in August. He’s also looking forward to meeting Dennis Allen and the New Orleans Saints, but it’s pretty clear which matchup he’s more eager about.
“Excited to go against the Dolphins. We can get a lot out of joint practices, especially against a team as good as Miami,” Ryans said, via KPRC 2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson. He added: “Saints as well. Different philosophies.”
Look, it’s tough to read that as anything but a diss against Allen and the team he’s built. And it’s harder to blame him. Despite their 9-8 finish last season in the wake of a series of concussions and injuries at quarterback, the Dolphins were one of the most exciting teams in the league under McDaniel’s coaching (and even then, they lost by three points in the playoffs with Skylar Thompson at quarterback). They’re flush with talent on both sides of the ball.
By contrast, the Saints were crippled by an offense that never got off the ground with either Jameis Winston or Andy Dalton under center, and now they’re pushing all their chips in on Derek Carr. Allen and offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. burned a lot of goodwill in last year’s disappointing 7-10 finish, and Ryans might feel like he knows what he needs to know about them after his San Francisco 49ers defense beat New Orleans in a 13-0 shutout. Hopefully the Saints can prove their doubters wrong and teach Ryans a thing or two when they meet for joint practices later this summer.
