In a game that did not offer too many positive plays for Houston Texans fans', rookie safety Kamari Ramsey had his first career interception during the second quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers.
It was one of two turnovers generated by Houston’s defense in a 27-7 loss. The other was a forced fumble by cornerback Brandon Codrington late in the fourth quarter on a pass thrown by D.J. Uiagalelei.
Codrington’s play is a testament to the physical style of play that Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans preaches about. Having physical cornerbacks has always been a part of his defensive scheme and even though it is just the preseason, it is still important for Ryans to see that now.
“For us defensively, you have to be able to set the edge, and it's not just defensive ends that set the edge,” Ryans said. “Our corners are going to get challenged a lot because our defensive ends are getting a lot of attention from opposing offenses. When that ball pops on the outside, corners have to step up and be physical and you have to tackle in this defense because you're going to get a ton of opportunities, probably different than other schemes, but in our scheme, corners are going to get challenged. That's tackling and also get challenged down the field. You have to have that mental fortitude as a corner to be able to cover, but also physical enough to step up and tackle whoever has the football and ‘Jayroc’ [Jaylin Smith] did a really nice job there on their sideline of making a physical hit.”
WHAT A PUNCH... OUR BALL‼️
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) August 14, 2026
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Ryans will be looking for more out of his defense in their next preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Houston's defense will possibly have the chance to play against Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza and really show the NFL how physical its starting unit can be.
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: DeMeco Ryans emphasizes importance of physical cornerbacks in his defensive scheme