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DJ Bien-Aime, ESPN
HOUSTON — A frustrated C.J. Stroud shouldered the responsibility Sunday night after the Houston Texans blew a 16-point halftime lead against the Detroit Lions, saying, “This game is on me.”
The second-year quarterback placed the blame on himself and the offense for the second-half woes that sunk the Texans in their 26-23 loss to Detroit. Houston’s defense forced Lions quarterback Jared Goff into five interceptions, the most in a prime-time game since former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees had the same total in 2012 against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Texans (6-4) became the second team since 1933 to lose a game in which they caught five interceptions and led by at least 15. Previously, teams were 373-1-1 when leading by at least 15 and snagging five interceptions. The other time a team lost in that fashion was in Week 11 of 1970, when the Chicago Bears lost to the Baltimore Colts 21-20 despite Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas throwing five interceptions, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
“Definitely should have won this game,” Stroud said. “My job is to lead the offense to score points, and I didn’t do that today. … We really should have put them away after the first half. It’s really on the offense.”
Second-half woes have been the theme for the Texans. This season they have been outscored by 59 points after halftime, with that differential ranking 31st in the league. Against Detroit they scored zero points, fueling the Lions’ comeback.
In the first half, Stroud led the Texans to 23 points while throwing for 164 yards and a touchdown. But in the second half, he threw for 68 yards, completed 39% of his throws and had two interceptions in the third quarter, with one occurring in the end zone when the Texans were up 23-13.
“It’s not good enough. Turning the football over there, especially in the red zone, or coming out,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “We talked about getting started in the second half, and we talked about being better in the second half. But to come out and turn the ball over on the first play of the second half and to get in the red zone where we have points and to turn the ball over, that’s not winning football.”
Ryans said it’s “frustrating” to lose a game in which the Texans took the ball away from such a high-powered offense. He lamented the inability to score points off the turnovers and added that “we didn’t play complementary football.”
“I’m proud of the defense for going out to get five turnovers. I think that’s a big day for any defense,” Ryans said. “We stalled a lot of drives. Again, didn’t score any points in the second half. To beat a good football team like that, we have to be able to sustain drives. We have to be able to score points. And we were going backwards way too much.”
Coming into Week 10, the Texans were averaging 9.1 points in the second half, and they haven’t scored a second-half touchdown since their 41-21 win over the New England Patriots in Week 6. Running back Joe Mixon, who had 46 rushing yards and one touchdown Sunday, said this loss “stings” but added that the Texans “are not going to flinch.”
“We are not going nowhere,” Mixon said. “We know what team that we are, we know what we are capable of. We just have to finish.”
As the season progresses, the frustration about the second-half woes is rising and the Texans’ offensive players are desperately looking for an answer.
“We are not being an efficient offense in the second half. What we did in the first half, we had our foot on the pedal, and we’re clicking on all cylinders,” left tackle Laremy Tunsil told ESPN. “Then we get in the second half, we take our foot off the pedal, and that’s something we can’t do if we want to be a championship football team. We’ve been struggling with that the whole year. That’s on everybody’s, that’s me, I have to play better, too. We all have to.”
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