SEATTLE – Inside the Texans’ somber locker room, there was a heavy emotional undercurrent surrounding the latest ugly setback in this surprisingly disappointing season.
Frustration. Anger. Discontent. A touch of disbelief, too, about the bleak outlook for a two-time defending AFC South championship squad that entered Monday night with optimism, perhaps misplaced, about the state of the team after two dominant victories over two bad football teams.
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For veteran Texans right offensive tackle Tytus Howard, the signs were there right from the start of a 27-19 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Especially the lopsided contributions from an offense that didn’t score a touchdown until late in the fourth quarter and squandered four turnovers created by the top-ranked scoring defense in the league.
“We gotta play better, bro, we let the defense down, we let the team down,” Howard said. “We was complacent today, we didn’t come out with enough energy to start the game. We just didn’t do a good enjoy job in really no phase of the game. We gotta step it up, man, for the rest of the season if we want to do anything. If we score, we can’t win.
“We’re giving teams short fields. Of course, they’re gonna score some points. Our defense had four turnovers. We should win that game."
An offense that mustered just 254 yards overall, that went 2 for 15 on third down, 1 for 4 on fourth down and 1 for 3 in the red zone. An offensive line that allowed quarterback C.J. Stroud to be pressured 17 times and sacked three times with one near safety when he ill-advisedly retreated too far while pressured by Uchenna Nwosu.
Are changes coming to an offense that may have to play without Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins due to a concussion on a short week against the San Francisco 49ers in addition to starting slot Christian Kirk because of a hamstring injury?
When asked directly about the performance of rookie offensive coordinator Nick Caley, the replacement for since-fired Bobby Slowik and the architect of the NFL’s 21st-ranked scoring offense and 23rd overall offense, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans made it clear he’s sticking by the former New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams assistant coach.
“We’re pressing forward with everybody we have,” Ryans said Tuesday during a virtual conference call. “We’re collectively in this together. If you want to point the finger at somebody, put it on me. Ultimately, it’s my job. We’re rolling with what we have.
“As bad as it seems, we’re still one possession from getting that game tied. Can we find a way to make plays to do that at the end? As ugly as it may be, it’s about how you finish. We had opportunity to turn it around. It’s a team, collectively. We’ll stick together as a team and find a way to do that."
The Texans are 18th in rushing offense and 23rd in passing offense.
The lone bright spots were interceptions by All-Pro corner Derek Stingley Jr. and safety Calen Bullock along with an incredible sack, strip and fumble recovery for a touchdown by Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr.
Stroud, named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week after throwing four touchdowns and zero interceptions in a rout of the Baltimore Ravens, had six touchdowns and zero turnovers in his previous two games. The Texans dropped to 2-4 for the season and look like anything but a playoff contender behind the 6-1 Indianapolis Colts and 4-3 Jacksonville Jaguars.
“It was a lot of things, I think first I got to point to myself and missing a couple throws,” Stroud said. “I got to work through the pressure. They were bringing some blitzes, got us to do some things to run some different schemes. I just think we didn’t get a rhythm. I think it starts with me and I got to do a better job of distributing the ball better.
“When I have good pockets, working them and making sure I’m getting the ball out on time and to the right guy. So, I’ll look inward and then there are some other things we’ll watch film and get better at.”
This season, Stroud has completed 64.8 percent of his throws for 1,305 yards and nine touchdowns with four interceptions.
Against the Seahawks, Stroud completed just 23 of 49 passes (49.2 percent) for 229 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He had a 59.0 passer rating for his lowest since a road loss to the Green Bay Packers last October.
“C.J. has to do a better job of running the offense,” Ryans said Tuesday. “It’s not about one person, it’s everybody collectively. He falls under that category as well.”
As for Howard’s raw, honest and unvarnished assessment of the offense, Stroud referenced how the Texans want to play the game is difficult to achieve. The Texans need a lot of things to go right to score points. It’s a hard watch right now.
“I don’t know what he meant by complacent, but I think the type of offense we’re running is like I told ya’ll, death by a thousand cuts,” Stroud said. “Sometimes when you live by a sword it’s hard because you’re not taking a bunch of deep downfield shots, but you’re asked to be really good on first, second down, time and time again.
“So, something we just got to get better at. It’s still new to a lot of us, but, yeah, I definitely think we can be better at that and that will definitely help.”
After combining for 70 points in wins over the Ravens and Tennessee Titans, the offense clearly regressed against the Seahawks.
Texans running backs Nick Chubb and Woody Marks combined for 31 rushing yards on 15 carries.
The most successful option was throwing to tight end Dalton Schultz. He caught a season-high nine passes for 98 yards on 10 targets.
Arguably, the worst sequence for the Texans was being stuffed on predictable consecutive running plays for Marks for no gain and a loss of two yards. That set the stage for the second of Zach Charbonett’s touchdown runs.
And the Texans also failed to score when they couldn’t create any push at the Seahawks’ one-yard line as they failed on both red-zone opportunities.
“We got knocked back,” Ryans said. “That all starts upfront. We didn’t displace the line of scrimmage. Therefore, we weren’t successful at gaining a yard.
“The main goal in this game was to control the front; we did not do that. Their front controlled us and it wasn’t good enough for us. We have to find a way to get better there. Got to score points, right? So got to find a way to get in the end zone. Had multiple opportunities; just didn’t capitalize on those.
The Texans rushed for only 56 yards, a season-low.
“The penalties and us getting in our own way, we had chances at the goal line that we weren’t able to get in and a lot of three-and-outs, it’s on us to get sustained drives and get things rolling,” Nick Chubb said. ““All the games that we have lost are on the offense, us not making plays and getting stopped.”
The Texans are 3 1/2 games behind the Colts in the division and rank 10th overall in the AFC playoff standings.
Barring a dramatic turnaround, the Texans look like anything but playoff bound.
“We didn’t play good at all today on offense,” Howard said. “It’s gotta be better. Us leaders on offense, we gotta step it up another notch and we gotta hold each other accountable first and everybody else, too.
“I feel bad right now. When you lose games like that, man, it feels terrible, man. I feel like we lost every game we lost this season. It’s something that’s been common for us this season so far that we gotta break through.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com