HOUSTON (AP) — Down by four to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers early in the fourth quarter Monday night, the Houston Texans had three chances to score from the 1-yard line and came up empty.
They had a first-and-goal at the 8 and Nico Collins was stopped a yard short of the goal line on a first-down catch. Nick Chubb was stuffed for no gain and C.J. Stroud threw incompletions intended for Collins on the next two plays to send the ball back to the Bucs.
Their failure to score on that drive was the biggest
missed opportunities in a 20-19 loss.
“We didn’t make the plays we needed to make and that’s the summation of this game,” coach DeMeco Ryans said.
Stroud was asked to explain what went wrong on that possession where the Texans couldn’t score from the 1, but he seemed to be at a loss.
“We just didn’t get the ball in the end zone,” he said. “It’s kind of simple.”
Ryans was frustrated that his team couldn't find a way to score.
“We didn’t have any space,” he said. “We didn’t move anybody off the line of scrimmage, which is what I saw. So, getting hit in the backfield and went to try to throw the ball, thought we had some matchups. I thought we had the opportunity to hit Nico in the corner there but the ball was out of bounds.”
Trailing by one, the Texans (0-2) got a quick stop thanks to a sack by Will Anderson on third down. Rookie Jaylin Noel returned the punt 53 yards to get Houston inside the 30.
Two plays later, Nick Chubb slipped through the line and dashed into the end zone untouched for his first touchdown as a Texan after spending his first seven seasons with the Browns. That put Houston ahead 19-14 with 2:10 remaining. The Texans went for 2 but Stroud was sacked.
This time, it was the Texans' defense that couldn’t make a play. The Bucs were facing fourth-and-10 after Houston took the lead and Baker Mayfield scrambled 15 yards to keep the drive going.
Rachaad White’s 2-yard touchdown run with 6 seconds left lifted Tampa Bay to the win.
“We’ve got to find a way to tackle and get him down and stop him there on the goal line,” Ryans said. “We’re in a position to make a tackle. We’ve got to knock the guy back and make a tackle to win the game. That’s what the game comes down to.”
Stroud threw for 207 yards and a touchdown but failed to move the offense effectively for much of the second half.
Houston trailed by four and hadn’t scored in the second half when Riley Dixon’s punt was blocked by Jakob Johnson and the Texans recovered on the Tampa Bay 35 with about 6 1/2 minutes to go. The Texans failed to move the ball and settled for Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 53-yard field goal that cut the lead to 14-13 with just over five minutes left.
The Texans converted 2 of 9 third-down attempts and punted four consecutive times before their goal-line failure.
“You can make a bunch of excuses, but we’re just not getting it done and at the end of the day that’s all that matters,” Stroud said.
Stroud is focused on keeping the team positive during the tough start.
“Everybody’s going to talk crazy and say we suck and we’re this and that,” he said. “But at the end of the day we’ve got to stay together and ... be honest and have hard conversations. But I think right now we need more confidence as an offense, just confidently playing better together. I think that’s a big thing.”
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