While the Houston Texans prepared for their Monday night game with the Dallas Cowboys, coach DeMeco Ryans showed his players video from the 2020 SEC Championship Game.
Alabama defeated Florida 52-46 on Dec. 19, 2020, to capture the conference championship – part of the Crimson Tide’s undefeated march to the CFP national crown.
In particular, Ryans wanted the Texans to take note of a play by Alabama wide receiver John Metchie III, who is now on Houston’s roster.
Florida safety Trey Dean intercepted Alabama quarterback Mac Jones in the first quarter. But Metchie’s tackle on his return caused Dean to fumble, and wide receiver DeVonta Smith recovered the loose football for Alabama at the Gators 31-yard line. On the next snap, Jones threw a touchdown pass to Smith as the Tide took a 14-7 lead with 6:07 remaining in the first period, and Alabama led the rest of the way.
On Monday night, Metchie made another tackle.
Facing fourth-and-9 at its 33-yard line on its opening possession, Dallas had Bryan Anger pass instead of punt the football, and he connected with safety Juanyeh Thomas. But Metchie brought down Thomas for a 4-yard gain, regaining possession for the Texans at the Cowboys 37-yard line.
“Another physical play on special teams with Metchie coming up making a huge hit,” Ryans said. “And it was a really cool moment for that play because we had a little highlight this week in our meeting where we showed a play from Metchie in Alabama-Florida when he made the big hit, so we talked about just playing with physicality tonight, and Metchie showed up and made almost the exact same play.
“But it was a huge play for him, having the awareness. Those guys are really good on special teams, and they have a lot of gimmicks and things on special teams, and Metchie played with elite awareness, and he was able to read the play, diagnose it and make a big-time, game-changing play for us.”
The win moved Houston to 7-4 this season and gave it a two-game cushion at the top of the AFC South.
The Texans return to the field in a division game against the Tennessee Titans at noon CST Sunday at NRG Stadium in Houston.
