Houston Texans 40 - Arizona Cardinals 20
JONATHAN GANNON: So from the game, Darren Hall had to get taken out for a concussion, had to get evaluated for a concussion. Bam went out early with an ankle. Cody Simon went out with a knee, and then Dre went out with a neck. I know you guys will ask me. Took him to a hospital. I think he'll fly home with us. So that's good to see.
You know, that's a good football team. We didn't do enough all three phases. We gotta play a little bit better here complementary football. Anytime we had chances to get some momentum back, one of the three phases kind of let us down.
We can't dig a hole like that versus a good football team. I think we started down 17 nothing there. Battled back, had a chance to cut it to a one-score game at that point. Just couldn't get it done. So we'll go back to work tomorrow.
Q. Looking at (indiscernible) about Trey was amazing today. He's had an amazing season. For him to kind of come out and play like that, especially given the circumstances, it just seems impressive.
JONATHAN GANNON: It is. I'm proud of him, too, because he kept his composure. They obviously had a plan for him, a couple of different things they were trying to do against him, and he still makes plays for us. He's obviously a premier player for a reason. I'm glad we have him.
Q. Seems like a trend now that you guys fall behind early in a lot of these games. Do you think your team is ready to play --
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah. I think so. We gotta look at it. The first I think it was a two-play drive, touchdown. We gotta do a better job there starting games. And then we turn it over on special teams on a kickoff return, and all of a sudden you're down 10 nothing and the offense hasn't even touched the field. So we just gotta collectively do better three phases and not dig ourselves holes.
Q. What are you seeing that's making you think --
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah. I think better execution.
Q. Why do you think they are ready though?
JONATHAN GANNON: They're ready to play.
Q. How much right now is -- and I know everybody is going to step up. How much right now is the guys that are filling in on defense that are maybe just not quite the level of the guys you lost?
JONATHAN GANNON: I'm confident in everybody we put out there. They all have a role. They gotta assume roles. They gotta go out and play well. That's everybody involved.
Q. What did you see the defense not do well enough today?
JONATHAN GANNON: I mean, you know, we didn't contest some routes well enough. Some zone distribution was off. We let the quarterback out of the pocket.
Run game, I thought it was like boom or bust. It was either going for one or two or ten yards. And then we gave up some explosives. You're not going to win games losing the explosive play battle or the takeaway battle. So we lose it two nothing. The takeaway battle and the explosive plays they had a lot more than us. You're not going to win.
Q. We've asked you a lot about the offensive play calling. Do you think the defensive play calling is good enough?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I do.
Q. You talked a few weeks ago about the importance of finishing well, even after being eliminated from the playoffs. Why do you think this team is not finishing well?
JONATHAN GANNON: I mean, we got beat by a good football team today. We didn't play well, well enough. And we're going to go back to work tomorrow, and we got Atlanta coming at home. That's our last home game. We'll play well.
Q. Is it concerning you how this team has kind of reacted to that playoff elimination?
JONATHAN GANNON: No.
Q. You punted down two scores with seven minutes left. What went into that decision?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah. I feel like if you don't get it there and they score, the game's over. Normally -- the first drive, I think, of the second half, it's, you know, it was I think 4th and 2 or 4th and 1. We went for that one. I didn't love where we were on the field to go for that with the distance that it was. That's a good question.
Q. Did you think you got enough pressure on C.J. Stroud?
JONATHAN GANNON: I thought the times that we did have pressure he kind of bought some time. So we always gotta affect the quarterback better. I think we tried some different things, four-man rush, five-man rush. He did a good job of not taking negative plays and getting out of trouble.
Q. You had a couple different offensive linemen in there. It felt like there were times where it felt like it held up pretty good. Did you see that?
JONATHAN GANNON: I did. I thought that number one defense in the NFL driven by that front, I thought they battled hard and did a really good job.
Q. Why did you take out Fryar for --
JONATHAN GANNON: We just, going into the game, wanted to see them both play. I thought they both did a good job.
Q. Seemed like Wolf maybe impacted the game. What did you see out of him today?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I'd probably have to watch the tape with a critical eye there. But he's an active, disruptive player, and the more he plays, the better he's going to get.
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