After looking almost unstoppable over the previous five quarters of football by scoring 70 points, the Houston Texans’ offense gave the impression that they were ready to turn the corner on a stagnant offense that had led to a three-game losing streak.

On Monday night in Seattle, they showed that it was all a façade in their 27–19 loss to the Seahawks, dropping their record to 2–4 on the season.

“For us tonight, it was just overall just sloppy play,” said Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans during his postgame press conference. “There was some positive things we did, but it was just overshadowed by the negative things. Offensively was not good enough. Didn’t move the ball good enough. We’ve got to execute better.

“The main goal in this game was to control the front; we did not do that. Their front controlled us and it wasn’t good enough for us. We have to find a way to get better there. Got to score points, right? So got to find a way to get in the end zone. Had multiple opportunities; just didn’t capitalize on those.”

The frustration Ryans expressed couldn’t begin to tell the story of how lethargic Houston’s offense looked on Monday night as they struggled to establish any continuity between quarterback C.J. Stroud and the rest of the skill players, finishing with 229 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

The Texans struggled with third-down inefficiencies, converting just 2 of 15 attempts, and were stifled by the Seahawks’ front seven, which limited Houston to 56 rushing yards. The offensive line failed to generate any push upfront and struggled to protect Stroud, who was frequently harassed in the pocket.

According to NextGen Stats, Stroud was pressured on 31.5% of his drop-backs, completing only 4 of his 14 pass attempts for 55 yards. He also struggled with downfield passes of over 10 yards, completing only 4 of his 15 attempts for 85 yards with an interception. His 26.7% completion rate on downfield passes marked the lowest in a game in his career.

“On offense, we didn’t do a good enough job in no phase of the game today,” said offensive lineman Tytus Howard postgame. “If I am being honest, it’s on me. I have to take responsibility for the offensive line. We got to play better.

“We were complacent. We did not come out with enough energy to start the game. I am going to own all of that and I am going to have my guys ready next week. We just got to be better. We let the defense down on offense and we got to step it up.”