- 40 minutes ago
Four second-half touchdowns allowed lead to another heartbreaking loss as the Houston Texans fall 34-30 to the Dallas Cowboys. Sean Pendergast and Clint Stoerner break down the red zone breakdowns, CeeDee Lamb's dominant performance, and why Demeco Ryans' defense is failing expectations.
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00:00go down 34 30 the texans snap it from the dallas 48 nobody on the line of scrimmage for dallas
00:05as
00:06cj takes the snap this will be a hail mary last play of the game cj walking around in the
00:11backfield
00:12throws it long to the end zone it's tipped and dallas has no official saying complete
00:19the game is over the texans lose and go to oh and four defeated by dallas 34 to 30
00:28houston slides to oh and four for the fourth time in team history in a hard-fought battle
00:37with the cowboys they come up short allowing four second half touchdowns tennessee up next on the road
00:47yeah here we are we are in not uncharted territory for this franchise but uncharted territory for the
00:53domico ryan's era now at oh and four with the texans losing to the cowboys today 34 30 in a
01:00back and
01:01forth game here at reliance stadium and my initial thought off the top among many we will get to all
01:08of you guys today as well 713-572-4610 if you want to get in on uh the fifth down
01:14show here on texans
01:16radio i'm sean pendergast alongside clint sterner clint watching this game today and at the end of
01:21the game after the defense has been a sieve for the entire second half of this game giving up four
01:25touchdowns they're up 16-6 the texans were at halftime the cowboys gifted them a field goal
01:30opportunity to allow them to go up two scores and everything was feeling great yeah half we had a
01:34little halftime ceremony there with deandre hopkins back in the building it was a feel-good moment deandre
01:39hopkins who authored one of the great moments in this dallas houston rivalry back in 2018 with his 49
01:45yard catch and run uh in overtime to set up a win it felt like everything was lining up and
01:51then the
01:51damn the damn fell in the second half of this game and my biggest thought on this team right now
01:56is that i can't remember a team where the the the national and local for that matter but like
02:03nationally the narrative around this team from everybody was this defense is has a chance to be
02:08historic and if cj stroud basically cj stroud just doesn't mess this thing up this team can go to a
02:14super bowl the exact opposite has happened this season the exact opposite anybody who watched this
02:21game today name one part of this team that looks well coached other than cj stroud you can't this is
02:27the complete opposite because every other part of this team is collapsing and the only thing that's
02:31keeping this team afloat in games obviously it hasn't worked out in the standings they're oh and four
02:36is cj stroud he is the only good thing he and nico collins as a combo and nico's going to
02:42join us here on
02:43the post game show he had a great return today that is the only thing and i somebody needs to
02:48tell nick haley that because it feels like there's a bunch of times where cj starts cooking and he
02:52feels like the right exact right thing to do is run a running back right up the back of his
02:55offensive
02:56line cj stroud is the only thing this team has going for it right now and that they don't fully
03:01lean into him at times today was just baffling to me this team deserves to be oh and four it's
03:05not a
03:06well coached team and this defense has been maybe the biggest disappointment in the nfl so far yeah
03:10look the two biggest things that you that you uh planned on hanging your hat on this year
03:15was defense and run game and and both of them um have have failed miserably in terms of meeting
03:22those expectations and and and the problem is see the sample size keeps getting bigger
03:26right after one game after buffalo hey it's josh allen it's okay you know and and now we're four
03:32games in and this offense has handed what was supposed to be a historically great defense
03:39a fourth quarter lead four times in three games three of the four games but four times totally
03:45twice against buffalo uh and you're sitting here oh and four that's that's not what this thing's
03:50supposed to look like right right that's not what this thing's supposed to look like and and it
03:53happened again today and so uh the inability to run the game on the run the football offensively is
03:58obviously a problem but the headliner here is is about this defense that uh yes they're they're a bit
04:04banged up but there's still several head scratchers throughout a game that you go boy this
04:09just this is not the same this is not the same team that we watched play last how do you
04:14let
04:14anybody i mean cd lamb is a good player how do you let somebody get 17 catches for 189 yards
04:21against
04:21you and how does he wind up matched up with jaylen petrie late in the game uh on what was
04:27just an easy
04:28pitch and catch touchdown that's the most disappointing part is that at the junctures in this game where you
04:33needed this team to stand up right up 16 to 6 at the half well you know what would be
04:36great if the
04:37defense came out and got a stop yeah on the first series of the second half so then the offense
04:42can
04:42get the ball and really build on that lead because you were saying it up in the press box early
04:46on in
04:47this game when cd lamb hadn't hit his groove and george pickens only had one cat or two catches in
04:51this game they were both huge they were the 50 53 yarder to set up a touchdown and then he
04:56had another
04:56big one to get into goal to go on the final drive of the game but you were saying it
05:01early in the game
05:01like man they need to build this lead now because those receivers are going to start cooking in this game
05:05and they didn't take advantage of those opportunities but when the cowboys needed to
05:09start scoring they made it look so easy and that's the thing for me that's why i thought this oh
05:13and
05:14three start felt different than last year's oh and three start i'm not shocked they pulled out of
05:18last year's oh and three start because you watch all three of those games and they were against you
05:22know what wound up being two of them wound up being good playoff teams and the bucks at the time
05:26were a
05:27good team early in the season and if you they were mistakes where you're like all right if you just
05:30make
05:30this tackle here or against the jags you turn the ball over three times okay we'll protect the
05:35football better the thing that was concerning about this oh and three start well for one you
05:40lost the game last week winning the turnover battle plus three like that's already indicative of a team
05:45that has some things broken but the functional things wrong with this team at oh and three as
05:49opposed to poor tackling and and turnover margin which are fixable things are things like we can't
05:55run the football we can't protect our quarterback oh my god this defense all of a sudden is not having
06:00all this health luck we were having last year we're missing our arguably our most important guy
06:04in aziz al shair this team is oh and four and you're probably going to hear from some people in
06:09advanced analytics sites this week the week and things like that well they could be three and one
06:13or they should be two and two or whatever don't buy any of it man this is four games in
06:17now and this
06:18defense has been a major disappointment and again i'll repeat it cj shroud is the only thing this
06:23offense has going for you cj and nico are the only two things this offense has going for well that's
06:28a good thing with a healthy nico i think i mean nico you can argue is the most valuable player
06:32in all
06:32of football right now because this offense looks completely inept when he's not around but when
06:36he is boy they're averaging 31 points a game there you go yeah maybe it's ingram too i want to
06:41give
06:41the o-line a little bit of love there but but uh yeah man i mean what cj stroud's i
06:46said it all week
06:46last week is is you know the the the mindset around cj stroud has to change a bit at least
06:52for this season
06:52i mean what he's been able to if cj doesn't come out and again you know through four games not
06:58turn the
06:58football over put up 30 points twice in four games already uh again gives the defense four
07:03different times you know the lead in the fourth quarter um i mean he is and and if you've watched
07:08the texans this year you're talking about a guy that even today i mean it was when he goes down
07:13on
07:13that final drive um really all day but when he goes down on that final drive and puts the texans
07:17up
07:17i mean there's there's you know second and third and long situations i mean one of them was like third
07:23114 and he's having to literally throw it through a keyhole in order to get a completion to know or
07:28get a completion to hutch or some of the even to nico a few times it's just his margin for
07:33error is
07:34so slim i guarantee there's not another quarterback in football right now that the margin for error is
07:38more slim than it is for cj stroud and he's still averaging with with today's game he's got to be
07:42averaging damn near 300 yards a game and so yeah i mean look we can we the we can pick
07:48cj apart if we
07:49won't right now and and talk about contract this contract that in the future and all that but right
07:53now through four games with the texans i mean he is by far the brightest spot on his team and
07:58and the
07:59one reason that you're you're in some of these games i'll be honest i mean i'm looking if i'm cj
08:03stroud and i'm looking oh and four right now and and i had to listen to to you know seven
08:08months of
08:09of people you know including i look i was i was in that boat i i agreed with the people
08:14who were saying
08:15like yeah cj's above average this team has a chance to go to a super bowl because i had no
08:18idea the
08:18defense was going to play this poorly um and so i so i you know when i point the finger
08:23at people
08:24saying that look i i didn't disagree with the take at the time i'm merely pointing out how wrong the
08:28take was and so my thing is here now at oh and four like what's cj thinking like i spent
08:34seven months
08:35telling me everybody i was the problem and now i've raised my level of play to where i'm the best
08:38thing this team has going and we're oh and four right now there's got to be a part of cj
08:42that looks
08:43around and says okay i am i going to be able to am i going to be able to win
08:47here is this team
08:48going to be able to do things to you know do the right things to put stuff around me to
08:51win
08:52football games well that's i mean that's a great that's in play yeah no it's a great point i mean
08:56if you want to do what's best for the team and if you want to win games this season and
08:59you want to
08:59get this this season turned around then it's it's clear it's going to have to be done via cj stroud
09:05yeah i mean this is going to have to be it you're going to you're going to have to keep
09:09nico
09:10collins healthy uh and you're going to have to you know surround your quarterback with with
09:14players that you're not one injury away from scoring six points in a game yeah you know so
09:19that that is uh but look i mean from a from cj's perspective i mean i know the team's oh
09:23and four
09:23and hopefully that's all that really matters to to a player as a competitor but there's there's no
09:28doubt about it that right now cj's in in the driver's seat from a perspective of going hey okay now
09:34here's
09:34what we need to do to have some input to be having you know to be taken serious moving forward
09:38um i don't know about it that's how this organization operates but given the way he's played if
09:42anybody if any anybody any quarterback has that is carrying that kind of power yeah i would think
09:48cj has it now and i want to be very clear i like i don't think i don't i have
09:52not seen anything out
09:53of cj this year that indicates any sort of like crack in his belief or you know what i mean
09:59like he
09:59like i cj sky high huh well i mean i'm saying like i haven't seen when i talk about him
10:05like what's
10:05the future look like for cj because if they keep losing these are going to be the conversations
10:10if they're if it's week 10 and this team is two and seven going into week 10 or two and
10:16six
10:16whatever the record would be the conversations are not going to be about the chargers pass rush
10:21versus the texans tackles the conversations are going to be about what does the future of this
10:25organization look like who needs to stay who needs to go what happens with cj stroud's contract does
10:30cj want to be here does the organization want cj here can't imagine they don't want him here after
10:34the way he's played these first four games that's all i'm saying is though but cj this is my point
10:38i was
10:39he's not conducted himself like that's a conversation right now you know what i mean like
10:42i guarantee i we haven't heard his press postgame press conference yet but he's handled everything
10:47with a great deal outwardly at least i have no idea if it's different behind the scenes but in
10:52press conferences and body language on the sideline that was a big topic for a little while his body
10:56language i think he's been an a plus this year and how he's can both handled himself behind the
11:01microphone and on the sideline and certainly he's been really really good in between the lines as well
11:05it's been really easy for cj stroud this year from that perspective of how he's handled things
11:10because he's played so well i mean the reality of it is is it's easy today it's easy for cj
11:15stroud to
11:15go up there and say hey man you know look we we needed a few more points i'm not you
11:19know i believe
11:20in my defense i believe that we're going to be better as a team i believe we're going to get
11:23a win
11:23it's going to be easy for cj stroud to get up there and do that with a positive attitude hell
11:26he just
11:27threw for 350 yeah you know i mean that's that's uh that's easy so uh again i mean you see
11:31a little bit
11:31of a shift here in a sense of we this is this team has has navigated adversity you mentioned it
11:36last
11:37year uh oh and three okay but has this team really navigated adversity where the one player that was
11:43questioned all offseason is the only bright spot the offensive line that was rebuilt can't seem to run
11:47the ball the defense is is failing miserably relative to who everybody thought they were like
11:52that's a different level of adversity you got a defensive minded head coach who who has spent a lot
11:56of money on the defensive side of the ball you know what what how do they navigate that particular
12:01this particular adversity in 2026 i think it's a little different than anything they've ever
12:05experienced yeah no question that that's the thing when they're going well we've been here before we
12:09i don't you've been you you haven't been here before with the defense playing the way it is like
12:14this if you're going to pull yourself out of this oh and four hole it's it looks like it's going
12:18to
12:19have to be in a different way than you had drawn up on the whiteboard before the season started
12:23to win games with this team as far as the defense goes we've talked about cj uh in the offense
12:28as
12:29far as the defense goes um how much of what we saw today is just dallas is a really good
12:34and
12:34productive offense how much of it should be like like season like season damaging concerning for the
12:41texans moving forward like where is this defense right now in your mind well look i think the reality
12:45of it is is the injuries play a big part of it in the middle i mean you you've got
12:49a a player
12:50obviously a talent gap between all your starters the four top three linebackers that have been
12:55injured and the guys that have been played for if you count murray i guess got banged up a little
12:59bit today and was questionable so i mean you're obviously right there in the middle i mean you
13:03you've got some major problems i mean anybody in their right mind understands that that impacts
13:07this defense to some degree but i when i look at it i look more of it sean like the
13:12there's a goal
13:12line 23 20 ball game i believe and it's it's a goal line stand i know that cowboys had the
13:16ball inside
13:17the five and you're running two defensive tackles into the game late i mean like that kind of thing
13:21what are we doing this typically was a team that is a a well-oiled machine from that perspective right
13:26so how is that a problem and i think i think you even said the drive before there was a
13:30little bit
13:30of a problem the last time the cowboys had it in the red zone and then you the the elephant
13:35in the
13:35room all week is going to be how does petrie end up on cd lamb uh in a in a
13:41a gotta have it type
13:42situation that that's just unacceptable it just it simply can't happen it takes you back to i
13:47believe two years ago when games on the line with the jets and petrie somehow gets matched up in
13:51man davante adams and you know that that's just you can't win like that those are the moments that
13:58the texans typically in the past couple of years how great this defense has been those are the
14:02moments that the texans have won previously and this time it's it's taking candy from a baby for
14:07the cowboys yeah yeah so a season that ended with a nine game winning streak last year a nine game
14:14winning streak the following season has started oh and four in a c in a first month of the season
14:19that when we're all bowing our chests out about this defense and how this team has a chance to be
14:23a super bowl contender i looked at this first month of the season and i think you use the word
14:27fun i use
14:28the word fun hey boy got three out of five or three out of four the first four games are
14:31at home
14:32and it's against josh allen and joe burrow and dak prescott because you thought that the texans would be
14:37up to task to go against those guys and it's proven to be the exact opposite well you bring that
14:42up i mean
14:43when the schedule dropped we all talked about the first month of the season is you got you got some
14:46absolutely explosive offenses coming in here and it's going to be very telling um now i don't think
14:52anybody thought that those offenses would have the success that they they've had against our defense
14:56but um we sit here four games in and a month into the season and it's been very telling with
15:02those
15:02particular offenses yep all right um people calling in already in lineup we got to mico's press
15:07conference will do that coming up next
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