Two weeks in, and the results are rough for the Houston Texans. Monday night added more salt to the wound as they fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in dramatic fashion. And this 20–19 defeat left Texans fans at NRG Stadium frustrated and searching for answers. The offense sputtered when it mattered most, and the defense couldn’t hold on. Despite the loss, CJ Stroud kept his head high.

He addressed the media after the game, pushing for unity in the locker room. “Stay together. You know, stay committed to one another, trust in one another… the sun arrives in the morning. You know, it’s not the end of the world,” Stroud said. He further added, “Everybody’s going to talk crazy, and we s–k, we this, we that, and at the end of the day, we got to stay together and just mesh well and, you know, be honest, have hard conversations, but, you know, I think right now we need more confidence as an offense, at least, just confidently playing better together.” His message was simple: no point in dwelling on the noise, just improve.

Still, the Texans came in with high hopes this year. They boasted one of the league’s stronger defenses and an offense that looked promising under new offensive coordinator Nick Caley. The goal was clear—move the ball and score more. But so far, they’ve averaged only 14 points per game and managed just one passing touchdown. Meanwhile, head coach DeMeco Ryans wasn’t shy about where things went wrong.

Ryans pointed to a critical breakdown near the goal line. “We tried to run the ball in, we got knocked back there, couldn’t get the ball in. And we tried to find Nico there a couple times to get the ball, and we just, we didn’t connect, right? We didn’t make the plays we needed to make, and that’s the summation of this game, all right? NFL’s about, it’s gonna come down to a two-minute drive in the fourth quarter.” Simple as that—they failed to execute when it counted.

On top of that, Ryans highlighted the team’s “collective” poor performance on third down after he was asked to address CJ Stroud’s plays. The coach laid it out bluntly: “I have to look at the film…It’s a collective effort, but we go two for nine on third down. What do we expect if we can’t get the ball in at the goal line? What do we expect is going to happen?” It’s clear Houston knows the issues, but solving them remains a different story.

Looking ahead, Ryans made it plain what they need to do. “We got multiple opportunities at the end of the game to close it out. We gotta tackle better, and we gotta make the plays. There’s no magic secret or any secret. So we gotta stand up and make the plays. If you wanna be a big time player in this league, you gotta show up and make plays.”

In the matchup, the Texans’ defense did its part for most of the game, holding Tampa Bay to 360 yards and even getting four sacks on Baker Mayfield. Special teams chipped in with a big kick return that set up a touchdown. But the offense just didn’t deliver. They finished with only 266 yards, barely better than Week 1, and while two touchdowns look like progress, one came thanks to that short field. When the game was on the line, the defense couldn’t get the final stop, but it’s tough to pin this loss on them when the offense struggled all night to find a rhythm.

DeMeco Ryans’ Texans show fight but come up short vs Buccaneers

It wasn’t for lack of trying. Despite injury scars, DeMeco Ryans’ Texans went toe-to-toe with the Buccaneers in a game that stayed close from start to finish. Early on, Houston looked strong, even holding a 10-7 lead after the first quarter. However, things stalled in the second and third quarters as they went scoreless. Only later, Ka’imi Fairbairn’s field goal and a solid Nick Chubb rushing touchdown got them back in the game and briefly ahead. Still, it wasn’t enough to turn the tide.

Meanwhile, the defense just couldn’t hold up when it mattered most. Baker Mayfield wasn’t giving up without a fight. He dodged tackle after tackle and pushed the Buccaneers into the end zone for that game-winning touchdown. On the other side, CJ Stroud showed improvement compared to Week 1. He finished with 13 completions from 24 passes, racking up 207 yards and a touchdown. He also scrambled for 19 yards. Still, Stroud knows better days are ahead if they want to get out of this early slump.

Chubb was one of the few bright spots in the Texans’ offense. He racked up 43 rushing yards on 12 carries and scored his first touchdown as a Texan. Plus, Chubb contributed through the air, adding two catches for 29 more yards. His performance kept the offense somewhat moving even when things got messy.

On top of that, the receivers made the most of their opportunities. Nico Collins led the way with three catches totaling 52 yards and a touchdown. Dalton Schultz added three grabs for 29 yards, while Xavier Hutchinson chipped in two receptions for 29 yards. Woody Marks even hauled in a big 37-yard pass.

Now, the Texans will shift focus to Week 3. They will look to regroup as they head to Jacksonville on Sept. 21, hoping to end the 0-2 skid.