Texans 45, Browns 14
Q. Myles, as the No. 1 defense in the NFL this year, how disappointing is it that in this setting you played probably the worst game of the year as a team?
MYLES GARRETT: Yeah, we played poor, and that's something that we have been trying to get away from, trying to start fast, and especially on the road, getting our feet underneath us as soon as the ball is snapped.
They just played their game better than we played ours. They took advantage of our mistakes, and that's just unfortunate that we had a bad day today.
Q. You guys had created so much pressure all year. Is there something you can pinpoint as to why you weren't able to do it today?
MYLES GARRETT: He got the ball out on time, and it was a little bit of chips and things like that, but mostly quicks and giving him enough time to get it out. The man wasn't too flustered, getting to his spots, being able to slip through a find a gap for him to throw when he needed to, escaping out of the pocket and making throws downfield.
There was a lot of close plays where we applied pressure, but he made those plays or he got it out quick enough for us to not be able to make that play.
Q. What did it show that he was able to play this way in his first playoff game?
MYLES GARRETT: He's showed this same level of play all year. I don't think he was absolutely exceptional. He played a really good game, but he got the ball to his playmakers, and he made the plays he needed to make. He didn't have to be superman. Everyone on that team was executing at a very high level, and he just kept the offense on track and put the ball where it needed to be.
We were just a step slow in different positions, and we have to be a little bit better.
Q. How about your own game; how do you feel about how you played? I'm sure you left everything out there on the field.
MYLES GARRETT: Not good enough. We didn't win.
Q. JOK was out there making play after play after play; do you wish some other people could have stepped up and matched that kind of production?
MYLES GARRETT: I mean, you have to look at all of the plays and what everyone was doing. It's not always going to be a stat game for everyone and a matter of are you executing your job and your assignment. You could execute all game and the ball not come your way or you're not in position to make a play.
It's not just wish other guys could step up. If it was his -- he was called to make the plays, they were trying to take advantage of him or anything that he was doing, he was out there making plays. We also have to make those that come to us.
Q. How surprised were you that this defense gave up as many big plays as you guys did?
MYLES GARRETT: We just didn't execute. We were out of position at different levels of the defense. We've just got to go back to our fundamentals.
We didn't go back to what we needed to quickly enough. We should have adjusted, got right from an individual level, and being on the same page communication-wise. I think that was what was lacking.
It's just a shame.
Q. Did Jim keep trying to do stuff differently or come up with new things to --
MYLES GARRETT: No. He said from the beginning he's going to ride with what got us here, and he's not going to change up. There's not going to be any magic call that's going to get us out of anything or get us through anything.
I guess they were just doing things a little bit different that kept us off balance, and I think just the tempo which they were doing it, whether it was running the ball a little bit differently than we had expected, getting the ball out on time, trying to just delay us enough up front to get the ball to their skill players and make plays.
We have to be able to make plays all across the field, not just up front or not just on the back end. It's all together.
Q. Is it in some ways shocking because you guys have played so well this season and you were so confident, is it shocking to put forth an effort like this?
MYLES GARRETT: It's unfortunate.
Q. Where do you guys go from here?
MYLES GARRETT: Back to the drawing board. We've fought through a whole ton of adversity this year. This is just another step of it. It's something you've got to use as motivation for next year.
This is the most painful loss I've had in my career, absolutely, and this is something that I'll use every day until we get back to this point next year where we're going to the playoffs and we're making another run again.
We're going to continue to motivate the guys and inspire the guys to use this to work a little bit harder, train a little bit more, think about what you need to do to get back to this point, never have this feeling again.
Q. Why is this the most painful loss?
MYLES GARRETT: Because we've been through so much to get here. We had a bad day on the worst time to have a bad day. We didn't just come this far, like I said, to come this far. We let ourselves down by not executing like we know we should have, whether it was offense, defense, special teams. We just came up a little bit short in each phase of the game, and we know that wasn't ourselves. That's what makes it the most painful.
They made the plays on every mistake that we made, or at least most of them.
Q. Why does it specifically hurt more than the division game with Kansas City (indiscernible) deeper into the playoffs?
MYLES GARRETT: I kind of just answered that question. We continued to fight through adversity all year. Guys out, Tak was out, Chubb out, Watson out. Guys all over the field, and we continued to make plays, continued to be stout on defense, continued to find playmakers on offense, whether it was guys who were tried and true or guys stepping up and making themselves known.
That's why it hurts. With Kansas City, we put everything on the line and we came up a little bit short. It sucks, but we were firing on all cylinders and a couple calls, either we came up short or didn't go our way. This one, we got beat. We got out-coached or under-manned or out-gunned. At this point if you look at it from the outside, you're like, they just got beat. But you look at it from the inside, being on the field, you know that the game -- it wasn't that far. It wasn't that far away from us. It was all about the execution which we had.
Speaking as a defensive player, I know we could have executed a lot better. Three or four plays back and it's a seven-point game or a 10-point game. That's why it's as disappointing as it is right now.
Q. Joe Flacco took you guys on a magical run there. Do you feel bad for him it has to end this way, too, where he's leaving here feeling like he impacted the game in a way he didn't want to and all that?
MYLES GARRETT: I feel bad for everyone who stepped up and came up short. It's not just one man. Everyone came in with high expectations and high hopes and tried to continue to prove people wrong. We fell short of what we hoped for and what our goals were.
I feel bad for every person who went out there and gave their all, but I know that I'm also going to continue to tell them to keep their heads high and keep on working because we have a lot more work to do.
Q. How different was this offense with C.J. Stroud compared to just a few weeks ago?
MYLES GARRETT: I mean, more elusive. He was also -- just like I said, very composed, getting the ball out on time, just sliding into different parts of the pocket, moving away from pressure, and just extending plays a little bit longer. He did a good job being where he needed to be and making the plays that he needed to.
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