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DJ Bien-Aime, ESPN
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – On a night when he was sacked a career-high eight times, quarterback CJ Stroud called the Houston Texans’ 21-13 loss to the New York Jets “embarrassing.”
Stroud had a Thursday night he would rather forget, completing 36% of his passes for 191 yards, the worst of his career, with no touchdowns or interceptions.
“To come out here during a primetime game and be embarrassed, that’s never fun,” Stroud said. “We have to be better in many areas, and it starts with me. There are plays I have to make, throws I have to make. I point the finger at me and realize that I have to be better as a football player. If we want that winning, this is not the recipe for it. We must learn to dominate.
“This is definitely a great wake-up call for us to tighten the ship.”
Stroud also had 11 quarterback hits and was pressured on 46.7% of his drop backs. That has been a seasonal trend. Stroud has been sacked 30 times this season, the second-most in the NFL behind Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who was sacked 33 times and suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury in Week 7.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans has preached all season that the Texans need to improve their pass protection, but the issues linger.
“We’re giving up eight sacks, and every drop-back and pass situation seems like we’re in scramble mode, so it’s just not good enough,” Ryans said. ‘We cannot operate in time, and we have to solve that. Any time you get fired that many times, it’s not good enough. I don’t want a quarterback to get as many hits as he’s gotten. to adjust.”
Stroud admitted Thursday evening that it was “not easy” to operate under duress. He went 5-for-12 for 67 yards under pressure, but characterized some of it as self-inflicted wounds.
“One thing I can do is get the ball out quicker,” Stroud said. “If something is open, I need to be able to hit it, because there are times when I sit back there and think too much. I need to be able to get it out, get it to No. 1 when No. 1 is there, No. 2, if No. 2 is there, then make sure I get through my progress. So it’s not just them, it’s also me.’
Stroud’s throwing time was 3.63 seconds against the Jets, the highest of his career. According to Next Gen Stats, the pressure got to him in an average of 2.87 seconds on Thursday night, and he tried to keep some of those plays alive.
The struggles allowed the Jets, who didn’t score a touchdown until early in the third quarter, to surge by 21 points in the second half. Two of the sacks the Texans allowed were costly. One sack in the first quarter, with the Texans at the Jets’ 11-yard line, caused a Stroud fumble. Another sack late in the second quarter, at the Jets’ 34-yard line, pushed the Texans back 4 yards, forcing Ka’imi Fairbairn to attempt a 56-yard field goal, which he missed.
“We have to take what we do in practice and apply it on the field,” right tackle Tytus Howard said. “We don’t do that now. We started early in the game and gave the quarterback too much. It trickled down and made it a slow start for us. That’s been our problem. We have to fix it.”
In contrast, the Texans’ run blocking was effective again. The team rushed for 187 yards, including 106 from running back Joe Mixon, who posted his fifth 100-yard rushing game. It is the third time this year that the Texans have gone more than 180 yards on the ground.
Pass protection has been a different story this season.
The Texans hope to resolve their issues next week when they host the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football.
