CJ Stroud deserves a ton of credit for propelling the Houston Texans to the Wild Card win over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. But head coach DeMeco Ryans is well aware that the rookie quarterback wouldn't have been able to thrive without their defense.

Ryans said as much after giving Stroud his flowers following their 45-14 win, noting that the defense really stepped up. Entering the game, Houston was rated 14th in overall defense, via FOX Sports. While that's not bad, it's also not that great, especially since the Texans offense was predicted to have a hard time against the league's best defense.

When Houston needed them the most, though, the defense played unarguably their best game of the season, as Ryans shared. They limited the Browns to just 14 points, and as the Stroud-led offense ripped apart the Cleveland defense to ensure a complete domination.

“They're the reason why we won this game, why we were able to finish in the second half. (Derek) Stingley did an unbelievable job on (Amari) Cooper,” Ryans said, per reporter Mark Berman.

DeMeco Ryans was also particularly happy with their back-to-back Pick sixes on Browns quarterback Joe Flacco in the third quarter, with the Texans head coach admitting it really shocked him since it's something he has never seen before.

“I have never seen back-to-back pick-sixes like that. We needed our defense to step up. You know, Joe had a big day against us a couple of weeks ago, and we knew it was a challenge in the passing game,” Ryans added, via A to Z Sports.

“And, you know, for Nellie [Steven Nelson] to make the pick that he made and also see [Christian] Harris – those are big-time plays. One of our focuses coming into the game was to attack the football, but to attack it and go score. That changes the game for us.”

Sure enough, if the Texans defense play that effectively come the divisional round, they will be hard to beat for any team. Hopefully, with the confidence they got after beating the Browns, Stroud and Co. will be able to maintain that momentum as they gear up for next week's showdown.