Texans' David Culley on Loss to 49ers: 'We Were the Enemy'

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - David Culley has a catch phrase to characterize the Houston Texans' self-inflicted miscues.

'Being the enemy,' the coach calls it, referring to his team's plethora of mistakes and penalties.

During a 23-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Levi's Stadium, the Texans were the culprit for multiple errors. That included tight end Pharaoh Brown, the most penalized player on the Texans' roster labeled "The No. 1 violator" by tight ends coach Andy Bischoff last week, being flagged for holding 49ers' star defensive end Nick Bosa to nullify a 50-yard catch by wide receiver Brandin Cooks.

It also included several botched assignments on defense that allowed the 49ers to run away with the game in the second half as they outscored the Texans, 20-0, to erase a 7-3 halftime deficit.

The Texans converted just 5 of 13 third downs against the 49ers and were 0 for 2 on fourth down heading into Sunday's season finale against the AFC South champion Tennessee Titans at NRG Stadium. Rookie quarterback Davis Mills was intercepted once, a turnover that led to a 49ers touchdown.

"I think the most important thing right now for us is to go out and play the game the right way," Culley said Monday morning. "Play like we played against the Chargers, where we played complementary. We didn’t do that in any phase, and we just want to end the season playing complementary football, and we know when we do that we have a chance to win. Obviously, we’re playing a team that’s looking for home-field advantage, but that’s the most important thing for us right now just for that.

"I think, too, winning is winning, and winning is good for the psyche. I think also not when you lose, it’s how you lose that’s very important. It’s you not being the enemy, and yesterday we were the enemy and we don’t want to be the enemy this coming week against the Titans."

As for Brown, a talented dual-threat tight end, Culley said the Texans will keep coaching him up and noted that he isn't the only player committing penalties. The Texans had five penalties for 67 yards against the 49ers.

"He has been, as we like to call it, a repeat offender," Culley said. "Repeat offenders obviously will end up getting you in trouble in critical situations. We’re just going to keep coaching him up on that. He’s doing a good job (for) us of asking what he needs to do, but the one thing he has to get better at is eliminating those penalties, and it has been a problem.”

The Texans had just 222 yards of total offense against the 49ers. They allowed 416 yards of total offense. And kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn missed a 45-yard field goal wide left.

“I want to see more consistency from us," Culley said. "We did not play very well for 60 minutes in either phase. We didn’t. We had our moments, but we didn’t finish well at the end of the game. Offensively, defensively and special teams, we had things that we can’t allow happen that will end up getting you in a situation that we were in and losing the ballgame."