C.J. Stroud couldn’t believe it. Neither could his Houston Texans teammates.
They were frustrated after a 21-13 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night when they couldn’t get much going against a team that was seeing its season spiral after losing five straight games.
“It’s embarrassing to come out here in a prime-time game and get embarrassed like that is never fun,” Stroud said. “We have to be better in a lot of areas, and that starts with me. There are plays I’ve got to make, throws I’ve got to make.”
Stroud completed just 11 of 30 passes for 191 yards for the Texans (6-3), who played without injured receivers Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins. Stroud was also sacked eight times.
“If we want to win, this is not the recipe for it,” Stroud said. “We’ve got to learn how to dominate and stop learning to just go with the flow.”
It was the first of three consecutive prime-time games for Houston, with a Sunday night home matchup against Detroit on Nov. 10 next, followed by a Monday night meeting at Dallas on Nov. 18.
“We just have to honestly just play football better, execute better, stop pointing the finger and realize at the end of the day this is not winning football,” Stroud said. “We can’t keep squeezing our way by. We are a really good football team. Once we buy into the systems and what is being coached, we have to have leadership to take over.
“This isn’t the end, but it’s definitely a great wake-up call for us to tighten up the ship.”
The Texans got on the scoreboard first on Joe Mixon’s 3-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter. They also led 10-7 through three quarters, but couldn’t close it out as Aaron Rodgers and an eye-popping catch by Garrett Wilson helped lead the Jets to a victory that stopped their skid.
“The most frustrating part is that we were the better team,” right tackle Tytus Howard said. “We let that game get away from us, especially in the second half. We didn’t come back out with the same intensity we had in the second quarter.
“We let a team steal a win from us.”
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans was particularly concerned with the offensive line after Stroud was hit 11 times. The second-year quarterback was on the turf for a few moments and was slow to come off the field after being sacked by Solomon Thomas shortly before halftime.
“Not sure what’s happening up front,” Ryans said. “We’ll watch the film. We gave up eight sacks and every drop back or pass situation looks like we’re in scramble mode. It’s just not good enough. We can’t operate on time. We’ve got to get that fixed.”
Stroud has been sacked 30 times this season, a total that ranks second in the NFL to Cleveland‘s Deshaun Watson, who’s out for the season.
“We don’t want our quarterback getting hit as many hits as he took,” Ryans said. “It’s not good enough. We’ve got to adjust, change things moving forward.”
After a slow start on offense, the Jets found a rhythm in the second half. Wilson’s acrobatic, one-handed grab put New York in front 14-10 early in the fourth quarter. Rodgers’ 37-yard TD pass to Davante Adams made it 21-10 with 2:56 left.
“When the passes went up in the second half, we didn’t win those passes,” Ryans said. “It was the same matchup we had in the first half. They made plays in the second half, and we didn’t.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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