Slow start dooms San Francisco in 26-15 loss to Texans

HOUSTON (AP) — When the San Francisco 49ers finally picked up a first down Sunday against the Houston Texans they were already down by 16 points and there was less than a minute left in the first half.

They did better on offense after that, but their bad start proved too much to overcome in a 26-15 loss.

“First half was tough because we had like 12 plays in the first half until that last drive,” veteran tight end George Kittle said. “We didn’t do anything to help our defense in the entire first half.”

Houston got the ball first and scored on its first four possessions while the 49ers (5-3) punted on each of their first three drives to fall into the early hole. Kittle said it was impossible to get a rhythm early with so few plays.

“They completely took us out of it,” he said. “We couldn’t get Christian (McCaffrey) going. We couldn’t get our run game going … we just played bad football on offense today.”

The Texans held McCaffrey in check. He had just 25 yards rushing and 43 receiving after piling up 201 yards of offense with two scores in last week’s 20-10 win over Atlanta.

The Niners finally got their offense going to cut the lead to 16-7 when Kittle grabbed a 17-yard touchdown reception near the end of the first half.

“The first half was tough,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I think it was 14 first downs to 2. Just the time of possession and everything like that, it was just a tough first half, an unusual first half.”

Kittle said their inability to sustain drives in the first half put too much pressure on a defense that has been riddled by injuries.

“That was a horrible first half,” Kittle said. “That was a really bad performance by our offense and I think we completely left our young defense out to dry today because I think they played really well.”

Quarterback Mac Jones was at a loss when asked to explain why they struggled so much in the first half.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I feel like we prepare a certain way for that, for the opening drives and really like the way we do it here. I’ve been in that situation far too many times where it just hasn’t gotten going, and today just wasn’t our day.”

He threw for 193 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in his fourth straight game and sixth this season filling in for the injured Brock Purdy.

A 2-yard touchdown reception by Jake Tonges and Demarcus Robinson’s 2-point conversion grab cut the lead to 23-15 late in the third quarter. Jauan Jennings made a 25-yard grab a play before the touchdown to set up the score.

Houston added a field goal after that, and the 49ers were driving late when Kamari Lassiter intercepted Jones just outside of the end zone with a little under two minutes left to seal the victory.

“There were a couple of opportunities where we could have came back, and we didn’t stop them,” Shanahan said. “Made it two-score lead there at the end, which was tough. They outplayed us a lot today, but I still thought we had our opportunities to find a way at the end, and we didn’t get it done.”

Shanahan was disappointed that his team couldn’t build on last week’s win over Atlanta. But he wouldn’t use all the injuries they’ve dealt with this season as an excuse for their shortcomings Sunday.

“It’s definitely harder when you lose really good players,” he said. “But we’ve had that situation throughout this year and all I want us to do is play as good as we can play and you can deal with whatever. And today we didn’t play as good as we could play.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL