The Houston Texans' storybook season came to an end at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday, leaving a foul taste in the mouths of both the team and fans in Southeast Texas (and everywhere else, of course).

But what makes the loss sting, even more, is the fact that it wasn't just the Ravens that beat C.J. Stroud and co. – the Texans beat themselves, too.

Self-inflicted wounds and mistakes were abound on Saturday and it all starts with the obscene amount of penalties -presnap penalties, at that- committed by the Texans. 

"Offensively, [we] just can't keep going backwards, like that," Stroud said after the game. There was too many penalties, too many missed assignments. On my part, I have to run the offense better, you know? So, just got to get better, there…

"… Those things hinder our drives. I mean, it's harder to operate on third and long every time."

Houston finished with 11 penalties for 70-yards on the night, which totally eclipsed the Ravens' total of three penalties for 15-yards. The 11 penalties are a new Texans playoff record, but the most frustrating part is the vast majority of them were presnap penalties. Those are an objective sign of a lack of discipline. Yes, the rowdy crowd at M&T Bank Stadium played a big role in the penalties, but players still have to find a way to overcome the situation. 

"We had something going there [with] the pre snap penalties, something we had made a step from and we kind of we reverted back to when we weren't winning games," Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans told reporters. "We were playing sloppy – and you can't have penalties against a really good defense…

"… It had nothing to do with the crowd – it's us. It's us, just being on it, being on the details of our job. Our message with our guys throughout the entire week [was] this game will be about execution. It will be about discipline and about executing."

I mean, the Texans had six presnap penalties before halftime. That's simply unacceptable.

The overall amount of penalties is a problem that has haunted Houston all year long. Coming into the game, Ryans' crew averaged 6.50 penalties per game, which was fifth-most in the NFL. The Texans tied for the 12th-most false starts (20) and the 14th-most defensive offsides flags, as well.

The penalties either put the Texans behind schedule or helped the Ravens extend drives. On a night where the offense scored just three points and the defense allowed 34 points, it's clear the penalties played a major role.

"The penalties really hurt us," Ryans said after the game. "… You can't have penalties against a really good defense… we weren't disciplined presnap-wise and we didn't execute postsnap."

It wasn't just the penalties, either

Tight end Dalton Schultz had a huge drop early in the game that forced the offense into a 3rd and 10 instead of giving it a first down. Fortunately, the Texans still got three points out of that drive, but the drop certainly made things harder.

Then there was Ka'imi Fairbairn's 47-yard field goal miss before halftime that prevented Houston from taking on a three-point lead.

And then, there was Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik's awful decision to call a trick play against a very smart and stout Ravens defense in the third quarter. The Ravens totally sniffed out the play and the end result was a five-yard loss that the Texans could never dig out of. They had to punt the ball away and the key factor, here, was the fact this was on the subsequent drive after the Ravens scored to break the 10-10 tie and go up by seven. 

Lamar Jackson and co. then proceeded to march 93-yards down the field and score another TD to go up by 14-points. Houston never had a chance, after that.

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In all, this game was the epitome of what happens when a team makes self-inflicted errors against an elite team in the playoffs. The Ravens never trailed throughout and a big reason why is because the Texans' youth and inexperience finally showed up on the big stage.

This loss won't define the Texans season, nor should it. There's plenty to be excited about moving forward, but over the next few months, it will be tough to resist thinking "What if?" in regards to Houston playing a clean game.