Jaguars 24, Texans 21
Q. Can you tell us about the decision to kick there instead of letting the offense have another shot?
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, it felt like that was the right decision for us to kick the ball. It was close. It just didn't go in. I thought we had good range from there. Just didn't make the kick.
Q. How tough was it not to have your timeouts for the last drive? (Indiscernible)
DEMECO RYANS: It's tough for us not having those timeouts, having to waste them on procedural things that we need to clean up. We have to play better.
All those timeouts were just self-inflicted things that we have to be better at. Whether it's making sure we got the right amount of people on the field, getting the calls in quicker, getting to the line of scrimmage quicker, we just have to be better.
Q. (Off microphone)
DEMECO RYANS: The explosive plays, you can't have them; right? You give up explosive plays, it equals points, and that's what happened. We gave up too many explosives on defense.
They beat us on a couple of plays. Good plays by them. We didn't execute the details of our job. When you don't execute versus a really good team, that's what happens.
Q. It seemed that there was a lot of plays that were off script for C.J. What was the biggest reason why you guys seemed to not be on schedule and in rhythm?
DEMECO RYANS: Credit to Jacksonville for their defense. They mixed it up really well. Credit to those guys. They played well up front. Coverages, they were tight, and we have to play better up front.
We have to protect it better. We have to run the ball better, and it all starts up front. We weren't the best team up front today on the offense or the defensive lines. We weren't the best team, and that's the reason why we didn't win this game.
Q. Obviously some questionable calls. That's going to come up primarily against Tavierre in coverage it appeared, and maybe Coach Pederson was putting him in some compromising situations. Just your observation of how he performed in those circumstances, especially with Desmond being activated. Talk about interchanging them or just what you saw.
DEMECO RYANS: T.T. was good. He was in good position on a lot of those things. We'll take a look at the film and see what it should have been.
Q. This, of course, was for first place in the AFC South. I guess how do you put into words? Did this feel like a missed opportunity at all? How are you viewing it?
DEMECO RYANS: Not a missed opportunity for us. It's one that -- of course, we didn't play our best, and as I told our guys, you don't play your best, you don't execute versus a good team, this is what happens.
There's no need to hold our head or sulk about anything. We have to do something about it when we're out there on the field. We have to execute. We have to play better.
You play better; you'll win the game. Today we didn't deserve to win because we didn't play good enough.
Q. Can you talk about the play at the end of the first half when they went for it? Did you think that was going to give you the momentum to take over the lead, which you did in the second half?
DEMECO RYANS: That play, that stop at the end of the half, that was a really big play for us. Felt the energy from the defense. Felt like that should get us some momentum, get moving there.
Then we come out the second half, and we allowed them to convert on third down, and they just continued to drive. For us to win this game, we knew we had to be better. We had to win third down, and of course, they were better on third down than we were.
Q. Is there anything you can share about Tytus Howard, and what did you think about the debut of Juice?
DEMECO RYANS: We're still evaluating Tytus. We'll get more information on him as the week goes along.
As for Juice, I thought he stepped in and did a good job of being ready to go.
Q. The Jaguars do anything that you didn't expect, or was it just a lack of execution?
DEMECO RYANS: Just execution for us. Nothing that we didn't expect. It was just execution, and that's what it comes down to. Tight, divisional game. We have to execute better, and that's what it comes down to.
Encouraged by some of the things our guys did, but when you want to beat a really good team, a playoff team, you have to be on your details, on your fundamentals for the entire game.
Q. C.J. was under more pressure than he had been lately. What was Jacksonville doing to create that pressure?
DEMECO RYANS: I thought they did a good job of mixing up the pressures, mixing up the Drop-8 in coverage. They did a really good job of mixing it up. For us up just up front we have to protect it better.
Q. Still looked like Jacksonville was able to pick around your receivers and in particular the second half. It looked like nobody could really just get consistently open, but periodically. C.J. had to extend the plays just to allow them a chance to get open.
DEMECO RYANS: I thought C.J. did a really good job of being able to move around and extend plays. Made a couple of big plays for us. One there versus with Tank that got called back. Unfortunate there.
I thought he moved around well when he had to, took what the defense gave him.
Q. With the loss, you guys fall to that third place in the AFC south and that Wild Card top 7 spot. How do you prevent this loss from spiraling and make sure you guys get back on track?
DEMECO RYANS: We don't have to prevent anything. Guys just have to come to work, like I told them. We were close there for this game.
It's how you respond. It's how you come back to work throughout the week. There's no magic that's going to happen. Nobody is going to show up and help. It's just about our guys stepping up and executing in the moment, and that's the message to our guys.
Q. On the third and fourth downs miscommunication with Nico and another one, doesn't C.J. have options on that?
DEMECO RYANS: I'll have to look at the plays and see what happened on those.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports