CJ Stroud hopes the loss to the Jets is a “wake-up call” for the Texans

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – On a night in which he was sacked eight times – the most of his career – quarterback CJ Stroud called the Houston Texans' 21-13 loss to the New York Jets “embarrassing.”

Stroud had a Thursday night he'd like to forget, completing a game-worst 36% of his passes for 191 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

“Coming here at a prime-time game and being embarrassed is never fun,” Stroud said. “We have to be better in many areas, and that starts with me. There are plays I have to make, throws I have to make. I point the finger at myself and realize that I have to be better as a football player. If we want to.” Winning is not the recipe for it. We have to learn to dominate.

“This is definitely a great wake-up call for us to right the ship.”

Stroud also received 11 quarterback hits and was pressured on 46.7% of his dropbacks. This is a seasonal trend. Stroud was 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 tear in Week 7.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans has preached all season that the Texans need to improve their pass protection, but the problems persist.

“We give up eight sacks and every drop back and pass situation looks like we're in scramble mode, so that's just not good enough,” Ryans said. “We can’t operate on time and we need to fix that. Whenever you get fired so often, it's not good enough. I don't want a quarterback to take as many hits as he took. …We have to adapt.”

Stroud admitted it was “not easy” to operate under duress on Thursday night. He was 5-for-12 under pressure for 67 yards but called some of it self-inflicted wounds.

“One thing I can do is just get the ball out quicker,” Stroud said. “If something is open, I have to be able to hit it because sometimes I sit back and think too much. I have to be able to pull it out and get it to No. 1 when it's No. 1. There, No. 2, when No. 2 is there, I'll get through my progressions. So it's not just them. It's also up to me.

Stroud's throwing time was 3.63 seconds against the Jets, which was the highest of his career. According to Next Gen Stats, pressure reached him in an average of 2.87 seconds Thursday night, and he struggled to keep it alive on some of those plays.

The trouble allowed the Jets, who didn't score a touchdown until the start of the third quarter, to go up by 21 points in the second half. Two of the sacks the Texans allowed were costly. A 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 and forced Ka'imi Fairbairn to make a 56-yard field goal, which he missed.

“We have to transfer what we do in practice to the field,” right tackle Tytus Howard said. “We're not doing it at the moment. At the beginning of the game we started to get the quarterback involved too much.

In contrast, the Texans' run blocking was once again effective. The team rushed for 187 yards, including 106 from running back Joe Mixon, who had his fifth 100-yard rushing game. It's the third time this year the Texans have gained more than 180 yards on the ground.

Pass protection has been a different story this season.

The Texans hope to fix their problems by next week when they host the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football.