C.J. Stroud: When you come out lollygagging, you lose in the NFL

Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud doesn't think his team prepared the right way for Sunday's game in Los Angeles and he shared that feeling after their 14-9 loss to the Rams came to an end.

Houston didn't score a touchdown in the opener and Stroud was sacked twice behind a remade offensive line. He also threw an interception and the Texans committed 11 penalties over the course of the loss.

Stroud said there were a "million reasons" to cite for the disappointing performance, but his belief is that the team "could have practiced better" and shared his hope that the game offered a necessary reminder of what you need to do to win.

We didn't deserve to win that game because we didn't do the right things," Stroud said, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press. When you come out in the NFL lollygagging and going through the motions, that kind of happens. I think we'll be all right, but I think it's a good wakeup call for us."

Performances in Week 1 are sometimes a harbinger of things to come and they are sometimes forgotten by the time teams get to October. The coming weeks will show which group the Texans will be in this season.