Carolina - 15, Houston - 13.
Q. (No microphone) in the fourth quarter?
DEMECO RYANS: Just didn't seem like we weren't urgent enough getting the play call out and getting to the line and running the play.
Q. The sequence at the end there, he had an easy field goal, but then you have the penalties. What was your take on what went on?
DEMECO RYANS: We're trying to make a stop there, makable field goal. So we're trying to make a stop there, trying block the kick.
Q. What did you see with the offense today? They just weren't able to get in a rhythm?
DEMECO RYANS: I thought we did a good job of running the ball. Both backs did a good job of line blocking well.
Just passing there, we didn't get as much passes as we typically have. So not the best day when it comes to that. We had some opportunities there that we didn't come down with.
We've just got to execute better all across the board. A tight game like this comes down to the small details and executing when you get the opportunities.
They made plays. Credit to Carolina. They made plays, executed at the proper time there. They took the ball away one time. We didn't take the ball away, and that's the difference in the game.
Q. You guys lost the first two, won the next two, and now you guys are kind of alternating with losses. What do you think is the biggest reason you guys haven't been able to stay consistent?
DEMECO RYANS: We've got to learn how to handle success. Young team, growing. As we continue to grow, continue to learn, you've got to learn how to handle success. How do you work after a win? You can't get too up and too down in this league.
We have to remain consistent. We have to continue to put in the same work, that same desperation you have when you lost a game, you have to have that every single week.
Q. I know hindsight is 20/20. Do you feel like Ka'imi's field goal range was at that 35? Like you all could have kicked the field goal if the delay of game penalty wouldn't have happened?
DEMECO RYANS: We would like to make a play there and not hurt ourselves. It just goes indicative of the game. I felt like that's indicative of the entire game, too many costly penalties at the wrong time.
Third down penalties, going backwards on offense, penalties hurting ourselves -- just overall we have to do a better job of cleaning that up for the entire team.
Q. In the first four games C.J. averaged 303 yards averaging. His average in this game was roughly 196. What do you think was the biggest reason for defenses to have been able to limit C.J. the way that they have the past few weeks?
DEMECO RYANS: I think with any quarterback, especially young quarterbacks, defenses continue to game plan and get more film on him, you see what guys do well, and you switch your game plan accordingly to put the quarterback in difficult spots.
Just have to keep growing, keep learning. We're going to see a lot of different things. C.J. will do well with it. He'll handle it well. He'll bounce back. I know he'll come ready to work next week prepared and ready to attack the next opponent.
Q. What can you guys do as a staff to help, I guess, mitigate kind of the slight regression that he's kind of had? What can you guys do as a staff there?
DEMECO RYANS: I'm not going to say -- it's one game, right? One game, and everybody has a game. So you keep working. You don't throw everything out. You keep working, and you keep trusting in the process, trusting what you're doing, trusting the scheme we're doing, and you keep working at it.
Q. On the plus side, the defense, nine sacks going into the game, six today. What worked for them?
DEMECO RYANS: Our guys got pressure up front. The front four, they were able to get pressure. Still we've just got to be better all the way across the board. When we needed it in crunch time. We've still got to be better.
Q. Did you expect more of a sense of urgency from the team coming out of the bye week?
DEMECO RYANS: I felt our guys were prepared and ready to go. It was a matter of executing in the moment.
Q. I know you pay a lot more attention to the defenses. Do you feel like Carolina did anything to prevent the deep shots from happening?
DEMECO RYANS: That's their scheme. That's their scheme that they run. They're going to try to eliminate the deep shots. We knew that going in. You have to take what you can get and continue to press forward.
Q. Jonathan Greenard and Maliek Collins, you're thoughts on that?
DEMECO RYANS: Any time those two guys come out with two sacks, I think is a good game by J.G. and Malik. We'll continue to watch it. But they made plays for us in critical moments, big time sacks there.
Q. Without the benefit of going back and watching the film, there seems to be a dichotomy of the success of your plays on the first half as opposed to going back in the second half. Was that changing the play call or something that Carolina forced you to do?
DEMECO RYANS: We'll take a look at the film and see where we can be better in the second half.
Q. Do you have an update on Jarrett Patterson?
DEMECO RYANS: We're evaluating Jarrett. We haven't gotten an update just yet. Hopefully he's okay.
Q. What's he mean to you?
DEMECO RYANS: He's been a rock for us in the middle through a lot of guys moving in and out, a lot of new groups in and out each week. Jared has been that consistent guy in the middle. He's done a great job of what we asked him to do.
You want to talk about a smart guy who stepped in and was able to communicate, get guys in the right spots. We put a lot on our center. So for him to step in and didn't play much of that throughout the training camp. For him to step in and just the communication aspect of it, you forget that he's a rookie because he settled in, and he's done some really good things for us.
Hoping the best for him.
Q. What type of learning lesson is this for your young team?
DEMECO RYANS: The learning lesson in this is you have to learn how to prepare after a success. I think that's the biggest thing for us is how is the preparation? Continuing to be dialed in no matter what happens, don't ride the waves, the ups and downs of a long season. It's just staying mentally prepared and also just shows you can't -- every game in the league is going to be tight.
So when you have penalties, you have errors that hurt yourself, you're playing against your own self. So it's hard. When you put yourself in the hole, you have to find a way to mitigate those penalties, those negative plays, and help ourselves. When we continue to do that, we'll play good ball, and we'll win games.
Q. Did your offense seem much different with the different play calling?
DEMECO RYANS: Same offense, same structure of the offense.
Q. Every loss is tough, but it feels like you're at that point where you can get things going. Is it that much more tough today to take that pill?
DEMECO RYANS: They're always tough. Losses are always tough. Hate to lose, but what can we learn from it? It happened. The game is over. What can we go back and study, what can we learn from and grow from this loss?
Q. How do you guys prevent this loss from spiraling? You guys are in the playoff race, things like that. You have a lot to play for. How do you prevent a loss like this from turning into multiple losses?
DEMECO RYANS: We'll just see how our guys respond. That's how we prevent this. See how guys respond next week.
Q. I'm curious, what does C.J. make of this moment as he tries to move on?
DEMECO RYANS: I know C.J. will do a great job of learning from what happened today. It's not just C.J. It's everybody. C.J. is not the only guy on the field. It's everybody around him -- offense, defense, special teams. It's a team game.
C.J. has been doing a great job for us all year. He did a great job for us today. But we have to play together as a team around our quarterback, and that's how we win games.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports