Coach Bill O'Brien could have picked any synonym of rotten at random, and it would've qualified to describe the Houston Texans' performance in a 32-0 drumming at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night.
The first-year coach went with "terrible."
"It's unacceptable to play like we did," O'Brien added.
O'Brien took blame for the team's "terrible" play, saying it was on the coaching staff.
"Tonight was not a good night of football," O'Brien said, per the Houston Chronicle. "It all starts with me. ... It was bad football."
He'll get no argument about his team's play here. The Texans were outperformed in every phase of the game.
Houston's defense got steamrolled by the Cardinals. Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton drove Arizona up and down the field seemingly at will. The Texans even made rookie Logan Thomas look like Ben Roethlisberger late in the game.
The J.J. Watt-Jadeveon Clowney duo was the one bright spot, but it was overshadowed by a secondary with more holes than a kitchen strainer.
The Texans' offense was just as pathetic.
O'Brien blamed the entire offensive unit. It's true the offensive line struggled and the receivers didn't make any plays, but the quarterback situation was by far the biggest culprit -- not to mention the worst situation in the NFL.
Ryan Fitzpatrick was the epitome of terrible. He made awful reads and pitiful passes. He played an entire half and ended his night 6-of-14 passing for 55 yards and twointerceptions. Case Keenum did nothing to rave about, and Tom Savage did little more than confirm he does, in fact, exist.
Until O'Brien gets the quarterback situation figured out, he's likely to see many more "terrible" performances during his first NFL campaign.
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