Buccaneers 20, Texans 19
Q. How is the protection for CJ Stroud still such an issue for the offensive line?
DEMECO RYANS: We had communication issues up front. They got us on some blitzes, things that we've seen, we work on. Have to look at the film to see what those issues were. We got to of course not have those and make sure we're picking things up the right way.
Q. When you turned it over on downs near the goal line, what were the problems there on that drive?
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, tried to run the ball in. We got knocked back and we couldn't get the ball in. We tried to find Nico there a couple times and we just didn't connect, right? We didn't make the plays we needed to make.
That's the summation of this game. The NFL is going to come down to two-minute drive in the fourth quarter. Are you making plays or not?
Our guys, a lot of guys gave us the chance to win this game. Special teams played outstanding, blocking the kick, getting explosive return, forcing a missed field goal.
Guys showed up and made plays to give us an opportunity. Now how do you capitalize on that? How to you put a team away? You let a good team like this stick around for too long is what we did and they ended up making a play there.
Baker scrambling on fourth down, which we knew that's who he is, that's how he makes the plays, scrambling. He made a big time play on fourth and ten. We got to find a way to tackle and get him down and stop him there even on the goal line. We were in position to make a tackle. You got to knock the guy back and make a tackle to win the game.
That's what the game comes down to. We had multiple opportunities to make win the gave and we didn't make the plays we needed to.
Q. When it comes to the offensive struggles, do you see it as a fixable issues or do you feel like you need to go out and get more?
DEMECO RYANS: We got the guys we need. We just have to execute better.
Q. Last week penalties were more on offense; you had them on defense today. What do you say or what do you do about the penalties?
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, the penalties on defense was very costly penalties. These penalties gave them first downs.
We had a sack. Got backed up, stop. It's just senseless some of the mistakes we're making; hands too high. It goes back to technique. We got to make sure we're doing that the right way. Every guy has to be accountable for how you're showing up and playing the game.
We got to play clean football and we can't hurt the team. Right now those plays and penalties that we had definitely hurt us.
Q. How would you overall assess how CJ played?
DEMECO RYANS: I have to look at the film. Obviously we go out on offense it's a collective effort. We go two for nine on third down, what do we expect? If we can't get the ball in at the goal line, what do we expect is going to happen? Everybody on offense has to make plays. Defense, we got to make a play there.
We had multiple opportunities at the end of the game to close it out. We got to tackle better and we got to make the plays. It's no magic secret or any secret sauce. Like we got to stand up and make the plays. If you want to be a big time player in this league you got to show up and make plays.
Q. On your 69 yards rushing today, what was...
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, the run game was definitely not good enough. It starts up front with our tackles. Wasn't good enough. We didn't play our technique the proper way. We didn't tackle well today. Multiple times their backs did a really nice job running the football, bouncing off guys. We didn't wrap well; we didn't finish.
So a lot of times we were there, but initial contact they continued to press forward and make plays and get positive yards in the run game, and we did not tackle well and we did not play technique well up front. When you run the ball for over 150 yards it's going to come down to tackling and execution, right?
Then for us on the flipside, offensively we did not run the ball well. Chubb had a nice run there to get in the end zone. Overall, like just not good enough in the run game. We're getting knocked back at the line of scrimmage. Can't start -- get the play started.
We got to look at it all and see how we can get it fixed.
Q. Talk about the importance of the special teams tonight.
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, I just talked about special teams.
Q. Did you guys consider going for the field goal...
DEMECO RYANS: We did what we wanted to do there. We wanted to go in and score a touchdown.
Q. You mentioned run game troubles. Do you envision time share with Marks and Chubb moving forward?
DEMECO RYANS: We'll look at it. I can't answer that right now. We'll continue to see what are the issues once you look at the film, what it is, where the issues are, who gives us our best chance. That's what it's all about.
Q. How do you overall just keep the team together? 0-2, how do you in this situation dig yourself out of this hole?
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, it's no hole. We lost the game, right? We lost two games; games we should have won. To win games you got to play better. You got to coach better. It starts with me. I got to coach better, we got to play better and execute better.
You got to go win games. You're not going to be given games. So we got to find a way to make those plays.
Q. Do you feel like you all did enough to get Nico Collins the ball in his hands?
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, Nico made an outstanding play. CJ and Nico connected on a couple passes there. We tried to get him the football as well down at the goal line when we got stopped. We tried to get him the ball.
Again, we are operating and moving the ball around, spreading it around. A lot of different guys made plays, caught the ball well. We spread it around well and Nico will continue to get his opportunities.
Q. When it comes to the quick game of the offense, you mentioned execution, is that what kept it from working or were the Buccaneers ready for a quick game from the quarterback to the wide receivers?
DEMECO RYANS: The Bucs have a really good defense, so I'm pretty sure they were really ready to play ball. They are a tough defense and they made plays and they played really well. They forced us into some bad plays, specifically on third down there and also when we get the block kick and we're in position there, we kind of sputter on a drive there and could have kept it going at three and out.
So the Bucs played really great defense. Credit to those guys. Todd did a really nice job. They finished the game very well.
Q. How would you assess what kind of went wrong (indiscernible.)
DEMECO RYANS: I would have to look at the film and see actually when went wrong. I saw the run that didn't work. We didn't have any space. We didn't move anybody off the line of scrimmage is what I saw.
So getting hit in the back field, and so went to try to throw the ball, thought we had some matchups. I thought we had opportunity to hit Nico in the corner there. Ball was out of bounds.
Q. With the Nick Chubb run, did you support going into the end zone or would you rather you all go down and...
DEMECO RYANS: At that point just go score. Everybody can go back at it and second guess what do you do at that point. Man, we got to make a stop. We had enough time. We had enough time to win the game. That wasn't the issue.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports