One thing Ryans has preached to the 2024 edition of his squad is that year-to-year success isn’t given, it’s earned.
“I’ll always remember that 2023 football season,” he said. “It was special because we were able to do it with special people. Getting CJ and getting… Willpower (Anderson) and Tank (Dell)So many young guys who helped change that culture in such a short amount of time. It doesn’t happen easy, it doesn’t happen quickly without the right people. I’m really excited to have those guys and work with them and have the year that we had.
“People talk about how exciting this year was, but I tell our guys a stat from this offseason: ‘Look, I know we won some games, but guys, look, we were down 10 games, and these games came down to the wire and we had to find a way to get there. ‘ That doesn’t change. That’s the NFL. It’s about being smart, being confident in those crucial situations, like the last two minutes of a game. Can you play well? Can you be clear-headed and execute the details of your job at a high level? That’s what it’s going to come down to. So I always remind them, like, ‘Hey, we didn’t blow everybody out! ‘ Those games can go either way, and you’ve got to continue to prepare that way for this new season. It’s not going to happen again. You’ve got to start over from scratch and work your way back up.”