A day after they gave up 385 yards of offense in a mistake-filled loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Texans watched tape of the game together as a team on Monday at Reliant Stadium.
As one might imagine, it wasn't the most pleasant of meetings.
"Coach (Gary) Kubiak called the guys out," safety Bernard Pollard said. "Like it or not, I think it's going to light a fire under some guys' butts. We've got to get the job done."
The 2-1 Texans rank last in the NFL in passing defense, allowing an average of 368.7 yards per game. That's 43.0 yards more than the 31st-ranked team, the Washington Redskins.
Kubiak liked what he saw from the defense in their first 40 snaps against the Cowboys. The Texans trailed 10-3 at halftime and forced a three-and-out on their first series of the third quarter.
Over the next 14 plays, they gave up 176 yards and two touchdowns.
"I was more concerned this morning with some detail and some things that we teach on this football team that we ask people to do on a regular basis," Kubiak said. "We get it done a great deal of the time. Every now and then, we choose not to do it. I didn't like the way that we chose not to do some of those things yesterday, so that was the focus of my meeting."
Pollard, who led the Texans with 15 tackles on Sunday, said that the message resonated with players loud and clear.
"We can't go out there and do the things that we want to do," he said. "We have to go and do what we're being coached to do. I think that so many guys are making mistakes, including myself. We're making mistakes in the back end. It's a team effort. It's a defensive unit effort, and we're just not getting it done."
Rookie cornerback Kareem Jackson has come under scrutiny with the Texans' struggles to defend the pass. Jackson made the wrong kind of highlights on Sunday when he stumbled en route to getting beat for a 63-yard touchdown catch by Roy Williams.
The first-round draft pick out of Alabama said that he can see the technique errors he's making on film, and his confidence remains high.
"There's not anything out there that I can't do," Jackson said. "It's hard watching it (on film) when you mess up on something and you know physically you're able to do it, and messing up on it causes them to make first downs and stuff like that.
"It's not that guys are just outright beating me. Every time I get beat, it's just something that I've done wrong. I can correct that."
The Texans' miscues against the Cowboys weren't just on defense. Offensively, they turned the ball over three times and failed to score touchdowns on two of three trips to the red zone. Quarterback Matt Schaub was sacked four times.
After being reminded of that while watching the film on Monday, players are shifting their focus to their upcoming game at the Oakland Raiders.
"Of course it was a big game because it's us against the Cowboys and everybody wanted us to win, but it's a game, we lost and there's nothing we can do about it now," wide receiver Andre Johnson said. "We've got 13 more games to play, and we're going to try to go out and win as many as we can."
Right tackle Eric Winston said that losing has become unacceptable in the Texans' locker room.
"I've kind of looked around, and guys are disappointed," he said. "Guys are upset. Guys are mad, and it looks like they can't wait to get back on the practice field and get back on the game field to make up for this, and that's a good feeling. I feel the same way.
"If you can't be upset and be ready to go out and get this taste out of your mouth, then you probably shouldn't be here. I fully expect us to go up there and play our best game."
If the Texans can right the ship and win their upcoming road game, they'll be 3-1 when linebacker Brian Cushing returns from his four-game suspension next Monday.
The Raiders are a missed 32-yard field goal away from being 2-1 after losing 24-23 to the Cardinals in Week 3.
"This team poses matchup problems for us," Kubiak said. "I think they're third in defense in the league right now. They've got a great corner (Nnamdi Asomugha), so obviously they can cause us problems.
"The key in this league is when you do something good, are you mature enough to come do it good again? If you do it poorly, can you regroup, come back and fix it? We're on the latter end this week. So, can we come back and fix it? Can we go on the road and find a way to end up having a great month of football?
"If you have a 3-1 month in this league, that's pretty darned good football. We have to regroup and try and get that done."
