The Texans dropped a tough one at Atlanta Sunday afternoon, but they're already focused on what they can do to beat New Orleans.
The Saints come to town next Sunday for a Week 6 matchup, and the Texans are smarting from a 21-19 defeat that ended with a 37-yard Younghoe Koo field goal as time expired.
Despite the loss, the Texans know they have a few corrections to make this week in practice. Offensive lineman Tytus Howard, who returned from the injured reserve and played in his first regular season game of 2023 Sunday, explained how there are better days to come.
"This team is in a whole lot better place than it has been the past couple of years because we know we can win games," Howard said. "We should win games. For us not to win that game today, it was tough. But I see a lot of good things for this team and we're building something special right here. So we're going to build off this loss and come back to get a win against New Orleans next week."
The Texans took a 19-18 advantage with 1:49 left in the game, when C.J. Stroud connected with Dalton Schultz for an 18-yard touchdown pass. Schultz, who led the Texans with seven catches for 65 yards and the team's lone touchdown of the day, described what the Texans must do this week.
"Every loss ain't fun," Schultz said. "But what are you going to do? You got two choices. Are you going to mope about it? Are you going to get back on the horse, on the work? I think we got the right guys in the locker room to be able to make the right choice on that."
Stroud completed 20-of-35 passes for 249 yards, with the touchdown toss to Schultz and zero interceptions. He said the Texans will hit the reset button this week.
"We are going to go back to the drawing board and try to get better," Stroud said. "I think this game will teach us that we can't shoot ourselves in the foot and expect to win close games. We had plenty of times to score points and it's on me to execute our offense at a higher level."
Linebacker Blake Cashman echoed that sentiment, and said he and the Texans defense must do a better job limiting the big plays.
"Explosive plays lead to points," Cashman said. "We have to clean that up. We're going to do that tomorrow when we look at the game film."
Kickoff with the Saints is set for noon next Sunday at NRG Stadium.
