Patriots defense laments slow start, missed tackles and poor run fits in loss to Texans

FOXBOROUGH — It didn't take long to realize this was going to be a long day for the Patriots' defense against the Texans.

Houston marched right down the field 65 yards in 11 plays to score on their opening drive, and would do so on their next possession (8 plays, 45 yards). The Texans' offense would somewhat stall for the rest of the first half, but they would put up 27 points in the second half, en route to a 41-21 victory.

"We always preach we want to start fast. We obviously didn’t," said cornerback Christian Gonzalez. "Like you said, they came down, marched two drives. But once we got to the sideline, it was like, ‘Alright, settle down. We’ve got a plan. Let’s stick to the plan.’ I mean, I think we settled down for a little bit, and they came out and executed their game plan.”

The constant theme: no run defense, and poor tackling

"The fundamentals of just tackling, our run fits have to improve," Mayo said, in part of his opening comments. "They have to improve. I told all those (defenders), I said, “you should feel like crap today. You should feel like crap.'"

The Pats allowed 192 yards on the ground to the Texans - after allowing 193 last week against Miami. On the 54-yard touchdown run from Dameon Pierce, he shrugged off three Patriots defenders before trotting into the endzone - all within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. 

"The main thing that we had going on was not playing our football," said cornerback Marcus Jones, who had an interception off a tip from Marte Mapu. "We had guys doing different things. One thing that we do, pride ourselves on, is accountability. The next man will tell you, ‘Hey, you need to do this.’ There are no egos when it comes down to it. We love the way that we critique each other. We try to do that on a down-to-down basis. After that, it started going the way we wanted it to go on the defensive side. We just can’t put ourselves in a hole.”

After the Patriots closed to within 14-7 at halftime and started the second half with the ball, Drake Maye was stripped sacked and the Texans needed just two plays to make it 21-7 on a 10-yard touchdown pass from CJ Stroud to Stefon Diggs against Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez.

"He’s a great receiver. He’s been doing this for a long time," said the second-year corner. "On the touchdown, he ran a good route. That’s the life of a corner. You’re going to get beat. So, I mean, props to him. He came out and ran a great route, and C.J. put it on him."

Said cornerback Jonathan Jones of the Patriots' defense not being able to stop the sudden change: "I mean, we practice that. Our job is wherever we get the ball and wherever their offense gets the ball, it’s our job to stop them, whether it’s the 1-yard line, you know, to be cliché, or in the red zone already. If we give up three points, that’s a win for us, but not giving up touchdowns.”

Stroud finished 20 of 31 for 192 yards, three touchdowns, an interception and a passer rating of 100.5. Diggs caught six of his seven targets for 77 yards, and Tank Dell caught seven of nine targets for 57 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive.

The Patriots have lost big pieces in Matthew Judon (trade), Christian Barmore (injury), Ja'Whaun Bentley (injury) and Jabrill Peppers (exempt list). But nose tackle Davon Godchaux said there's still enough talent for the team to not allow 20 first downs (13 by passing), 368 total yards and 192 on the ground.

“We lost big pieces last year but we were still a great defense," he said. "That’s really just an excuse if anybody says that."

“In reality, you’re one play away from being a starter. I feel like people aren’t taking that approach, and we got to do a better job as a team to figure out how to win games."

Godchaux maintained New England is the best team he’s been with in terms of preparation, and the team just has to take that and use it on the field. He doesn't think opponents are really beating the Pats, but the Pats are beating themselves.

“Missed tackles, blown assignments, being where you’re supposed to be, it’s too much of doing that and I could go on and on," he said.