The Houston Texans definitely didn’t play like a playoff team in their heavy loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday.
With only one game remaining before the playoffs, the AFC South champions understand they need to improve a lot to compete in the postseason.
“That’s not who we are. That’s not what we represent,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “What we put out there on the field, that’s not Texans football. For anybody to come back and bounce back from it, you’ve got to check yourself and make sure you’re playing with elite execution and elite energy.”
The 29-point loss to the Ravens was Houston’s biggest defeat of the season. The defense allowed a season-high 251 rushing yards, and the offense failed to score any points, with the only points coming from a safety in the second quarter.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud threw an interception and missed several throws in a game he called “one of the worst games of my whole career.” When asked how he and the team would move on from such a tough loss, he said, “That’s the only thing we can do.
There is nothing in life you can go … back and re-do, so it’s all about how you respond. You hit rock bottom; the only way is up. So, we still have a lot of hope. At the end of the day, we clinched our division. We still have an opportunity in the playoffs.”
The Texans (9-7) failed to convert in the red zone twice during the game, which lowered their red zone efficiency to 50.94%, ranking 26th in the NFL.
After their safety, they had a chance to close the gap or possibly tie the game when they had a first down at the 10-yard line. Joe Mixon gained 7 yards on the first down, but the drive stalled.
He was stopped for a 1-yard loss on second down, and Stroud’s incompletion brought up fourth-and-4. Stroud threw a short pass to Mixon, but he was stopped at the 1-yard line, giving the Ravens the ball back. Lamar Jackson then led a 99-yard drive, ending with a 9-yard touchdown pass to make the score 17-2.
