Texans Fall to Buccaneers, Drop to 0-2 After Costly Goal-Line Failure.

The Houston Texans walked off the field Monday night knowing exactly where their 20-19 loss to Tampa Bay slipped away.

Early in the fourth quarter, down by four, Houston had three cracks from the 1-yard line—and came up empty. A first-and-goal at the 8 ended with Nico Collins stopped just shy of the end zone. Nick Chubb was stoned for no gain, and C.J. Stroud misfired twice toward Collins. The Buccaneers took over, the Texans left with nothing, and the game’s biggest opportunity was gone.

“We didn’t make the plays we needed to make and that’s the summation of this game,” head coach DeMeco Ryans said afterward.

Stroud, asked what went wrong in that crucial series, was blunt: “We just didn’t get the ball in the end zone. It’s kind of simple.”

Ryans pointed to a lack of push up front: “We didn’t move anybody off the line of scrimmage. We got hit in the backfield, and when we tried to throw it, we thought we had some matchups, but we didn’t connect.”

Still, Houston fought back. Rookie Jaylin Noel ripped off a 53-yard punt return to set up Chubb’s first touchdown as a Texan—a 19-yard dash that gave Houston a 19-14 lead with 2:10 left. The two-point try failed, and the Texans’ defense needed one more stop.

They couldn’t get it. Baker Mayfield scrambled for 15 yards on fourth-and-10 to keep Tampa Bay alive, and Rachaad White punched in the game-winning touchdown from 2 yards out with just six seconds remaining.

“We’re in a position to make a tackle, to win the game, and we didn’t,” Ryans said.

Stroud finished with 207 yards and a touchdown, but the offense sputtered through most of the second half. Houston converted only 2 of 9 third downs and punted four straight times before their goal-line collapse. A blocked punt briefly opened the door, but the Texans settled for Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 53-yard field goal instead of capitalizing.

After two straight losses, Stroud stressed staying together.

“Everybody’s going to talk crazy and say we suck,” he admitted. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to stay together and keep building confidence as an offense. That’s the big thing.”

The Texans return home still searching for their first win—and for a way to finish.