CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Vince Wilfork is not a patient man.

At least not when it comes to waiting for his team to start clicking.

"We're running out of time," Wilfork said after the Texans' 24-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers. "It's just getting too crazy right now. We're running out of time. We have to get this fixed quick, so back to the drawing board again this week."

Wilfork's sentiment wasn't matched elsewhere in the locker room, which was permeated by talk of patience and confidence that the Texans defense would soon dominate they way they, frankly, should. But Wilfork has never played for a team that's started the season 0-2 (the Texans haven't done it since 2008). The worst season record he ever experienced in his 11 with the New England Patriots was a 10-6 record. The Texans have only been 10-6 or better twice in their entire history.

His expectations are different.

Vince Wilfork (75) has never played on a team that started 0-2. AP/Mike McCarn

"It’s very frustrating because we talked about it in [organized team activities]," Wilfork said. "Bad football, we do not want to play bad football, and we did today at times and it cost us. When you do that, this is the result. We got to get it figured out."

The Texans defense wasn't the reason they lost the game. The defense held for much of it as the offense was unable to move the ball. The Texans got into Panthers territory only twice in the first half and got past the Panthers' 41 only once.

Finally in the second quarter, the Panthers began to encroach on Texans territory. They scored all 24 of their points in the final three quarters, aided by penalties. The 80-yard drive that ended with Newton's acrobatic touchdown run featured three Texans penalties, one of which wiped out an interception by safety Rahim Moore.

The Texans also gave up passing touchdowns of 25 and 36 yards.

"We just played poor," Wilfork said. "Penalties and big plays killed us. We’ll watch film and figure out what we can do better to get going. It’s starting to get old now. We need to step up, all of us. It’s going to be a big goal of ours this week. We got to challenge each other this week and get back on track."

He did say it was fixable. What needs to be fixed exactly?

"Eliminate bad football," Wilfork said. "That's one thing, so we'll start with that."