The Houston Texans are coming out of their bye week with a glaring hole in their game plan to fix: the sheer amount of penalties called against them.

Houston currently ranks top five in the NFL for average penalties per game, are one of 10 teams to have given up over 500 total yards due to penalties, and are one of eight teams with 70 or more total flags called against them.

Those penalty issues are far from a winning recipe. It's a considerable reason as to why Houston has fallen three games under .500 heading into Week 9, and sets up as a weakness that DeMeco Ryans and the Texans staff have to address for the second half of the year if they want to turn things around.

And with a week of time off thanks to the Texans' Week 8 bye, Ryans has come back with a mindset wired to fix those penalty issues this team has fallen into one too many times this season.

What DeMeco Ryans Said About Texans' Penalties

For Ryan’s, the blame for the Texans' penalty issues falls on the shoulders of both the coaching staff and the players. So heading into this weekend against the Los Angeles Chargers, improving those shortcomings will be a clear focus throughout practice.

"For penalties, we all have to clean it up from a coaching perspective, a player perspective, and we'll emphasize that more in practice and see how it translates to the game," Ryans said on Monday.

One aspect of the Texans excessive penalties that Ryans highlighted as a key point of emphasis is their offensive holding calls–– which have been a problem, to say the least.

Houston currently ranks third-most offensive holding calls per game against them heading into Week 7, and are one of five teams in the NFL to lose over 20 yards per game because of those holds.

That's something that Ryans wants everyone on the Texans' offensive front to get right. And if those penalties are able to be limited in the weeks ahead––especially when it comes to holding––it'll pay major dividends for Houston as a result. 

"For all of us with the penalties, specifically holding penalties, we've got to know when to let go on the edges," Ryans said on Monday. "That's been called a lot more this year, and we've got to know when to let go. Understanding that's a point of emphasis for our officials. So we've got to do a better job playing cleaner."

"Some of our biggest runs–– not only [Aireontae Ersery], but our tight ends and guys on the edge specifically–– have been called back because of the holding penalties. And that leads to the questions on the running game. We've had 20-plus yard gains. It's just been, you know, nullified by penalties."

"So, can we clean that up? Can we play smarter knowing when to let up on the edge? And I think that'll definitely help our numbers in the run game."

We'll see if that plan of attack ends up coming together against the Chargers come Sunday in Los Angeles; a team that's also struggled when limiting their flags on both sides of the ball.

The Chargers currently sit as one of seven teams in the NFL to average over eight penalties called against them per game, and rank top eight in the league for average pre-snap penalties per game. So if the Texans can clean things up on their end, this can be a matchup they can take advantage of.