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For the second straight week, the Houston Texans’ defense succumbed in the second half after a sensational first two quarters.

Houston held the Detroit Lions to 114 total yards in the first half, limiting the NFL’s leader in points per game entering the week (32.3) to just a touchdown. The Texans had a similar shutdown of the New York Jets’ offense on Halloween, capping them at just 69 total yards and no points in the first half.

In both cases, those barricades didn’t hold. The flood gates opened in the second half for the Lions, who put up 231 total yards as they roared to a 26-23 victory and erased a 16-point halftime deficit in prime time. As they did for the Jets, who outscored the Texans 21-6 in the second half to win 21-13.

Linebacker Henry To’oTo’o said there’s no special adjustment being made on the other side of the ball. The Texans just aren’t doing the basics when it matters most.

“We’ve got to find a way to execute better,” To’oTo’o said. “And it just all comes down to the fundamental things that we go over every single day. So, we just got to find a way to get that job done when it counts.”

The defense didn’t get much help from Houston’s other units. The Texans’ offense didn’t score a single point in the second half and had just 97 yards. Quarterback C.J. Stroud threw two interceptions in the third quarter as well, which the Texans defense retorted with interceptions of their own. But the offense couldn’t score off turnovers or at all in the second half, putting the defense in a bind.

Houston picked off Lions quarterback Jared Goff five times in total, the most in a game in Texans history. Detroit became the first team to have its quarterback throw five interceptions and win since the Atlanta Falcons did so against Arizona on Nov, 18, 2012. It’s only happened 20 times in the 105-season history of the NFL before Sunday night and only twice in the 21st century.

“We had the five (interceptions), but there were things that we could have probably did better as far as just simple stuff,” cornerback Derek Stingley said, who almost added a sixth interception early in the first quarter. “A couple of plays they had a couple extra yards that they shouldn’t have had. But other than that, we just gotta play better.”

Furthering that bind at the end of the game was the Texans’ special teams. With the game tied at 23 at the two-minute warning, Stroud couldn’t connect on a third-down pass to Xavier Hutchinson. Contact from corner Terrion Arnold controversially drew no flag, and the Texans sent kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn out to make what would’ve been the NFL’s record-setting 12th field goal of 50+ yards in a single season.

No records were set. Fairbairn’s kick was wide left from the get-go, giving the Lions the ball at their own 48 and making Houston’s defense hanker down for overtime. But it couldn’t get the stop needed as an Amon-Ra St. Brown 11-yard reception on third down put the Lions in range for their own 50-plus yard attempt and the game at the feet of Tomball native Jake Bates.

The Lions’ kicker converted on his game-winning chance, barely sneaking through a 52-yarder just 45 minutes away from where he grew up. While the defense wasn’t given much wiggle room, coach DeMeco Ryans wasn’t giving them any excuses.

“It’s just us consistently executing,” Ryans said. “That’s what I believe in. Just out-executing our opponent. When things got tight there in the end and in the second half, we didn’t execute. We had multiple opportunities to get off the field, but we didn’t make those plays.”

One of those opportunities came on Detroit’s fourth-quarter touchdown drive to get the Lions within one score. After a Texans three-and-out, the defense stopped a St. Brown underneath reception short of the marker on second down.

Houston had been swarming to the football all night, holding the Lions’ potent rushing attack to just under 2.7 yards per carry through three quarters. But Detroit wouldn’t give it up, handing the ball off to bruising back David Montgomery on the crucial third down. The Texans were ready for it as To’oTo’o and two linemen met Montgomery at the line to gain. But they didn’t meet him quick enough, as Montgomery just crept over the first-down marker to extend the Lions’ drive.

“We weren’t triggering fast enough at the second level,” Ryans said. “We stalled a little bit there defensively.”

The stall gave the Lions momentum to show off their quick-draw ability, going 54 yards in four plays concluding in a St. Brown 9-yard TD catch. Setting it up was a Montgomery 24-yard reception to put Detroit in the red zone. Montgomery and running mate Jahmyr Gibbs had just 25 total yards through the first half. But both showed why they’re on track for 1,000-yard seasons in the second, putting up 139 total yards between them.

“Once you give those guys a seam and we’re not executing at a high level, they’re gonna make plays,” To’oTo’o said. “We just got to play sound football. All 11 guys on the same page, running to the ball. I think that’s the message we need to take away from this.”

Another opportunity came on St. Brown’s field goal-sealing reception. Houston stopped two Gibbs runs for 4 yards and no gain after Fairbairn’s miss, setting up a 3rd-and-6. It was too far for even the run-heavy Lions offense to hand the ball off. But the Texans still accounted for it, putting six defenders in the box with the explosive Gibbs in the backfield.

The protection against the run put the Texans in zone coverage with three receivers to the right, St. Brown being the closest to the quarterback. That aligned him in linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s zone, an obvious mismatch that Goff took advantage of. The Lions’ leading receiver attacked inside at Al-Shaiir before whipping out, catching his quarterback’s pass in space to solidify a Lions scoring chance.

Goff threw all five of his interceptions with the Texans playing zone coverage in the first three quarters. He was 6-for-8 for 79 yards and a touchdown against it in the final period.

“We got to play better,” To’oTo’o said of Goff’s resurgence in the fourth quarter “There’s nothing different that they did. Same as last week.”

The second-half struggles are a recurring theme in Houston’s past four games, of which it lost three. Much of that is on an offense that hasn’t scored a touchdown in the final two quarters since the Texans beat the lowly New England Patriots in mid-October. But the lapses on Ryans’ side of the ball are troubling him, leaving the Texans coach to do some soul-searching Sunday night.

“Defensively, did some things that are uncharacteristic in the second half,” Ryans said. “We just have to find a way to play a complete game. That’s what we have to find out.”