The Houston Texans suffered an “embarrassing” loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night, according to quarterback CJ Stroud, falling 21-13 on the road in a game full of mistakes.

“To come out here during a primetime game and be embarrassed, that’s never fun,” Stroud said, via ESPN. “We have to be better in many areas, and it starts with me. There are plays I have to make, throws I have to make. I point the finger and realize that I have to be better as a football player. If we want to win , this is not the recipe for it. We must learn to dominate.”

Both sides repeatedly stubbed their toes in the game, but the Texans never settled on offense and couldn’t get a late stop on defense. Houston gave up three straight scoring drives to close out the game, and outside of a 98-yard drive in the second quarter, couldn’t find the end zone.

The loss to a Jets club after a five-game losing skid exposed the Texans’ worst problems.

“We will be able to be a very good football team and that does not define us,” Stroud said on the team’s official website. “But it’s definitely a wake-up call.”

Behind an offensive line that has done a lot of damage to him, Stroud is starting to show cracks. The second-year quarterback fumbled into scoring position in the first quarter, missing a host of throws he normally makes — including one that should have gone for an easy touchdown late — and took a whopping eight sacks. In addition to the eight sacks, Stroud was pressured on 46.7% of his pass attempts, according to Next Gen Stats.

“I’m not sure what’s going on up front,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “We’ll look at the film and see what it is, but obviously you give up eight sacks, and every dropback or pass situation seems like we’re in scramble mode, so it’s just not good enough if we can’t make it in time operate , and we have to fix that. Every time you get sacked that much, it’s not good enough. We don’t want our quarterback to get hit as much as he got. We have to adapt. We have to change things going forward .”

Stroud finished 11 of 30 passing (36.7%) for 191 yards and a passer rating of 59.2.

Taking hit after hit after hit after hit after hit after hit after hit after hit after hit after hit, it has finally made its way to Stroud. It’s grown in recent weeks – you could see signs of it on Sunday against Houston. But without Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs winning on the outside, it was a perfect storm of bad on Thursday. It’s gotten to the point where the quarterback expects to get hit every time he drops back. That’s no way to play quarterback.

As bad as Thursday’s loss was, holding onto a multiple-game lead in the division gives Houston time to get back on track. But the road doesn’t get any easier with a trip to take on the powerful Detroit Lions in Week 10.

“This is not the time to hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves,” Stroud said. “It’s time to answer the call. We have guys in the locker room that I believe in and trust.”