HOUSTON — After blowing a 16-point lead to the New England Patriots, the Houston Texans held a players-only meeting to right the ship. The goal of the meeting was to admonish the undisciplined and mistakes that led the Texans to lose four out of their previous five games.
But Sunday afternoon, everything that was discussed behind closed doors resulted in a 31-3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
After the humiliating loss, the Texans embarked on a quiet plane ride back to Houston, feeling at their lowest point amid a five-game losing streak. And as they prepare for their Week 7 match against the 6-0 Arizona Cardinals, the Texans could fall deeper into a snafu state.
“We were just talking about how we’ve got to get this thing going, and how we’ve got to hold each other accountable,” wide receiver Chris Moore said during his media availability on Monday. “That’s something we’re all talking about. Coach [David] Culley, that’s what he preaches every day, that we need to be a more disciplined team.
“We’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers. It starts in practice. Every day, we go out there and we’re just working on it.”
Undisciplined. Second half struggles. Trying to find a way to improve. It's been the same message each week for the Texans amid their five game losing streak. Today, I asked Maliek Collins if having the same conversations get a little tedious after a while. #Texans pic.twitter.com/PRpywLIJtb
— Coty M. Davis (@CotyDavis_24) October 18, 2021
Linebacker Christian Kirksey, who spoke to the team as a whole before departing the plane following their Week 6 loss to the Colts, said every player on the team must look themselves in the mirror and ask if they are doing their job to the best of their abilities.
Kirksey said improving the team’s play has nothing to do with their scheme or coaching. It’s about coming together and being a disciplined team. It’s an objective Culley has made his personal agenda.
“It starts with me — we’ve got to do a better job as coaches in practice of making sure that we’re focusing more, that our concentration is at a higher level,” Culley said. “It’s not at that level that it needs to be right now, but we’re going to emphasize it more as a staff. And again, to change things, you’ve got to change.”
Among a streak that may not cease until their Week 12 match against the 1-4 New York Jets, the continuous losing is starting to take a toll on a Texans’ locker room that once appeared to be in conjunction during training camp in early August.
“For me, it sucks because I’m a very competitive person and I hate losing — I’m pretty sure everybody in the locker room feels the same way,” Moore said.
“We’re not coming out at practice lackadaisical or just not giving effort. We’re actually coming out to practice harder and harder every week. Eventually, this thing is going to get right. The way we’re working and the guys we have on this team, we’ll get this thing right.”