Detroit 26, Houston 23
Q. ... in the second half. How do you think you can alleviate that and what do you think are the symptoms and reasons behind that?
CJ STROUD: Just first and foremost want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for this opportunity to play on Sunday night against a good team like the Lions.
You know, it's not easy to be on third and long a lot, but I mean, clearly just got to be better on first and second down.
Q. Can you take us through what happened on that first throw of the third quarter where you threw the interception?
CJ STROUD: Yeah, just didn't see the coverage. Did a good job, coverage two, and just left it inside. Can't do that. Made a good play on the ball. Yeah, it's my fault.
Q. CJ, it seems like you guys continue to have some issues in the second half, moving the ball, scoring. Can you put your finger on what the issue is?
CJ STROUD: Seems like it's different every week. You know, I feel like this game was on me. Definitely got to make plays, got to make throws. Can't turn the ball over.
So, yeah, blame is on me. I got to be better in those moments. So, yeah, it's really just got to go down and score in the red zone and defense is getting the turnovers like they were, so got to be able to reward them with points.
That's something we didn't do. I feel like I'm the one to blame when it comes to that. Turn the ball over in the red zone, so, yeah.
Q. You talked a lot this week about the spirit of the group, having fun with the group. How difficult is it when the game is slipping away? How do you think the sideline group handled that?
CJ STROUD: It's all about what happens in between the lines. That's what fuels energy. Me not executing, I means, no one is going to be smiling ear to ear. The more I execute the more it's fun.
You know, it's something I think more we execute we can have more fun.
Q. I'm not sure if someone already asked you this. Seeing how well the defense played, all the turnovers, how frustrating can a loss like that be?
CJ STROUD: Very. It's not easy. Definitely should have won this game. It's not easy.
Q. What did you make of the game plan that you guys put together on offense and the issues you had in the second half, some of the timing of some of the play calls and things like that with the game plan?
CJ STROUD: Thought it was good. At the end of the day got to execute plays. That's my job, to lead the offense to score points, and I didn't do that today.
Not going to point fingers. One, I point at myself; and, two, got to just move on from this and still understand we just took one of the best football teams, NFL teams to the wire.
We really should have put them away after the first half. It's really on the offense. Got to be better. I got to be better. So, yeah.
Q. I guess what is the biggest thing that you feel like you want to take away from today's game?
CJ STROUD: Just make better throws when guys are wide open and don't turn the ball over on first play the second half.
So I mean, if you take those plays away and I throw Tank a good play on this one play the game is flipped over. I got to be able to be better in those moments. Just take it on the chin like I know how to. Sun will rise up tomorrow and hopefully go play the Cowboys on Monday night and try to have a good game there.
It's not a time to feel bad for ourselves. It happened. We got to learn from it and move on.
Q. Thoughts on John's performance?
CJ STROUD: He did really well. Big time for us. Ran a lot of crisp routes. You know, caught the ball. Got a lot of YAC, touchdowns. I'm super proud of him and super happy that he's getting his opportunities and showing his worth.
Q. CJ, I know if you take these types of losses very personal. How long before you can move on to Dallas?
CJ STROUD: I'm not sure. I don't know. It's hard to lose like that, especially when our defense played so good and we just really were just not scoring points at the end of the day.
So, yeah, it's not easy, but can't sit here and keep or heads down. Got to keep our heads up and go back to work and get better. That will be the plan.
Q. How do you guys prevent this from snowballing? (Indiscernible.)
CJ STROUD: Kind of what I said last week. We have the team to do it. We have the players. We have the scheme. Now it's just up to the players to do it and put it on the field.
So, yeah, a lot of things were better today and for me, I got to look myself in the mirror and know that's not winning football.
So, it is what it is. Got to learn from it. Yeah, I believe that we still are a great team and can do a lot of special things, but we got learn how to pull those type of games out.
I think it's the second time now we lost that way. If you hang your head down you can look up and the season will be over and you didn't fix it.
Only thing we got to keep our heads up, get the problems fixed.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports