HOUSTON – C.J. Stroud displayed his resiliency after his NFL record of throws without an interception to start his career was snapped Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.
When the Texans’ rookie quarterback was intercepted by Saints linebacker Zack Baun in the first quarter, it halted a run of 191 passes without being picked off at the start of his career. Stroud surpassed Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s mark of 176 passes without an interception to start his career last week against the Atlanta Falcons.
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Instead of allowing the turnover to affect him, the two-time Heisman Trophy finalist shook off the setback after wide receiver Nico Collins forced Baun to fumble and offensive guard Tytus Howard recovered the loose football. The sudden change led up to Stroud throwing a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dalton Schultz, his intended target on the interception.
That touchdown staked the Texans to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, and they never trailed in a 20-13 victory at NRG Stadium that evened their record at 3-3 and displayed again why Stroud is unusually poised and mature for a rookie.
“He didn’t blink,” Howard said of Stroud, the leading candidate for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. “He went down there and drove us down the field and threw the touchdown to Dalton. That’s what you want to see out of a quarterback. For him to be a rookie and be able to do that speaks big volumes about him.”
Six games into his NFL career, Stroud is already setting records. And the 22-year-old California native has passed for 1,660 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception while completing 59.6 percent of his throws for a 96.4 passer rating. He’s on pace to finish the season with 4,703 yards, 26 touchdowns and three interceptions.
When Stroud threw the interception, he had support from his teammates and coaches DeMeco Ryans and Bobby Slowik.
“That’s life, there’s ups and downs” Stroud said. “My teammates were like, ‘You’ve got this, let’s go.’ I looked back, and DeMeco was like, ‘You’ve got it.’ I could see it in his eyes, that he cared about how I was going to respond. For me, that meant a lot just for them to have trust and faith in me. And, I’m going to have trust and faith in myself, too.”
It wasn’t Stroud’s best performance. He completed just 13 of 27 passes, under 50 percent, for 199 yards, but threw two touchdown passes against the Saints’ fourth-ranked defense that has eight interceptions for the season.
Stroud capitalized on the second opportunity. Stroud found wide receiver Noah Brown for a 34-yard completion. That set up his touchdown pass to Schultz, whom he connected with on a late touchdown pass against the Falcons during a 21-19 loss.
“Excited that we went down and scored,” Stroud said. “I thought that was really big. A lot of other things I can clean up, like some things I probably did worse than the interception that wasn’t really highlighted. So, for me, just getting better.”
Stroud, drafted second overall out of Ohio State, ranks fourth in the NFL in passing yards behind the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa, the Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins and the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford.
“That just shows how we feel about C.J.,” Texans veteran right tackle George Fant said. “Guys were ready to make plays for him.
Stroud has answered questions at every turn about his skills and mental toughness. This was just the latest example of those traits.
“With C.J., it’s the same, it’s resiliency,” Ryans said. “Even though he throws his first interception of his career, bad things happen, but you don’t let that affect the next play. They went down and drove on them and scored right there. I think that was the turning point of the game for us and on offense. Bad things happen. We responded the correct way. That’s what you continue to see from C.J. Even though it’s a bad play, it doesn’t affect the next play. That’s growth and that’s really great to see from a young quarterback.”
The Texans have had a resurgent season after going 3-13-1 last season under former coach Lovie Smith.
And Stroud has been a major part of the change with the outlook of the franchise along with Ryans’ imprint of leadership.
“I think it’s everything,” Stroud said. I feel like all the games that we’ve played so far have been dog fights, from Ravens all the way now to the Saints. I don’t think there was one game we thought we were out of. We might have went down earlier or went up early, but we fought the whole way.
“And, one thing I’ve learned about this league, it’s not easy to win. Of course, we didn’t play perfect. I didn’t play perfect, could have made some better plays. But, you have to be happy with a win because that’s a great Saints defense. They’re stacked from left side all the way to the right. It was a blessing to get a win against a tough defense like that.”
With his high school at Rancho Cucamonga attending the game, Stroud didn’t get frustrated or overcome with emotions. He was calm, even in adversity. That goes back to his time in high school and playing for the Buckeyes for coach Ryan Day.
“What I’ve been through in this game, coming from a place like Ohio State, having ups and downs, just knowing the next play is the best play,” Stroud said. “I can go all the way back to high school, my head coach from high school is sitting back there, so I may be thinking about him, but he’ll tell you at times I’d get flustered, I’d get pissed, because I want to be so great.
“I work really hard on the little details, on straining two yards every play after the whistle is blown. I get really down on myself sometimes. I’m probably my biggest critic. I remember in college, we were playing the Rose Bowl, I threw a pick coming out of the half, and we were down two scores. And coach Day gave me a look and was like, ‘You’ve got this, let’s go.’ Ever since then, I just started kind of playing carefree. He trusted me on fourth down a lot. I made plays, and a lot of confidence was built back then. It’s kind of where it stems from.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.