HOUSTON – C.J. Stroud launched his epic rookie season with respectable, albeit unspectacular results in a game effort as the Texans fell short in the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens, a seasoned football team.
That start by the Texans rookie quarterback and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner mirrored the story of the Texans’ resurgent season, a season defined by a quantum leap of growth.
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From 3-13-1 a year ago under Lovie Smith, the Texans have now stamped themselves as a dangerous Super Bowl contender.
Since that 25-9 loss at M&T Bank Stadium and an 0-2 start, Stroud has delivered sharp performance week after week. The Texans are now the AFC South champions and Stroud and DeMeco Ryans became the first rookie quarterback and head coach tandem to win a division title in NFL history. The Texans are coming off a dominant 45-15 AFC wild-card playoff victory, trouncing the Cleveland Browns.
And, now, they’ll face the Ravens in a rematch on Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff because the Buffalo Bills defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC wild-card playoff game. The 11-7 and fourth-seeded Texans face the top-seeded and 13-4 Ravens, the AFC North champions, in an AFC divisional round playoff game Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium.
It’s an intriguing matchup on several levels:
John Harbaugh, the Ravens’ Super Bowl winning coach, against Ryans, a former NFL Assistant Coach of the Year and Pro Bowl linebacker who has galvanized the Texans organization and the city in his return to Houston.
Stroud, who joined Tom Brady and Joe Montana as the only NFL quarterbacks ever to lead the NFL in passing yards per game and touchdown-to-interception ratio, against Lamar Jackson, a leading MVP candidate as one of the most elusive and dangerous dual threat quarterbacks in the game.
“Right, you talk about drastic improvements,” Ryans said Monday during a press conference at NRG Stadium before learning the Ravens would, in fact, be the Texans’ next playoff opponent. “Our first game going against Baltimore, man, tough place to play. Rookie quarterback, new team, new start, going out to Baltimore. I remember going into halftime – and man, we were right there. Going against a really tough team, we were right there. Really tight game, and they kind of took it away in the second half.
“From there to where we are now, we’ve definitely grown. Completely different team. They’re a completely different team. They’re trying to figure out who they would be offensively, but they’ve done an outstanding job, Baltimore, with their defense. I think they’ve been probably the most consistent defense throughout the entire year. We’ve grown. Their offense has grown. They’ve done a really great job.”
#Texans coach DeMeco Ryans on growth of team since opening game of season at #Ravens @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/eRpaXJhUb6
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) January 15, 2024
In that first game, Stroud passed for 242 yards. He went on to pass for 4,108 yards during the regular season with 23 touchdown passes and just five interceptions
Against the Ravens in the first meeting, Stroud frequently delivered the football with zip, accuracy and timing Sunday albeit in a losing cause, especially on his intermediate throws.
And the Texans’ rookie quarterback displayed poise, composure and an unflappable, competitive personality during his NFL debut despite being under heavy duress from a talented defense headlined by linebackers Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen and safety Kyle Hamilton.
In a stellar game, Stroud completed 16 of 21 passes for 274 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions during a 45-14 blowout he engineered against the Browns. Stroud was poised, accurate and a step ahead mentally of the Browns’ top-ranked defense all day. Stroud and offensive coordinator Bobby Stroud, a head coaching candidate for the Washington Commanders, Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, are cooking together in one of the top quarterback and play-caller collaborations in the league.
Since returning on New Years Eve from a concussion suffered against the New York Jets on a late hit from defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, Stroud has passed for 751 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions on 76 percent accuracy. Every game, he’s had a passer rating above the century mark. He had a 157.2 mark against the Browns. Yes, that’s nearly perfect. The maximum rating possible for an NFL quarterback: 158.3
“C.J. has been the same throughout the year,” Ryans said. I’ve always spoke about his growth throughout the year, but he’s been consistent. I think throughout the past month that he’s been back from the injury, he’s just really been very calm. He’s been focused. He’s been laser focused, locked in. He’s been very calm, very confident, and I think everybody feels that around him.”
Ever since his arrival in Houston as the second overall pick in the draft, the two-time Heisman Trophy finalist from Ohio State has been unflappable. He has maintained a high standard on and off the field. Stroud has formed strong bonds and friendships with his teammates, including Friday night dinners with quarterbacks Davis Mills and Case Keenum. Stroud has organized throwing sessions with his wide receivers. At every turn, Stroud has been up to the task.
In the bigger picture for a Texans organization that has gone 11-38-1 over the previous three seasons, having a talented quarterback for the first time since three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Deshaun Watson has been a game-changer in accelerating their rapid construction project as a franchise.
Stroud had a stellar career with the Buckeyes, passing for 8,123 yards with 85 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions as the Buckeyes went 21-4 during his two seasons as the starter. He broke Drew Brees’ two-year record for touchdown passes. He lost just one road game, a 49-34 loss to Michigan in his first season as the starter.
“That guy, he’s going to be a great quarterback coming up,” Queen said after the first game. “It’s just tough coming up here against us as a rookie. So, that’s what we do.”
Stroud hasn’t thrown an interception since a win earlier this year over the Arizona Cardinals.
“It shows you whatever you put your mind to, you can accomplish,” Stroud said. “DeMeco has led this team with great confidence, and that confidence rubbed off on everybody. We’re all holding each other to a certain standard.
“I’m really excited to be with my brothers for another week. Who knows, next year it’s not going to be the same team. That’s how the league goes. We have another week to prove ourselves right and try to win a game. We’re playing our best ball as of right now these last two weeks, last three weeks really, and that’s really what you want.”
The Texans have embraced an underdog mentality. Yes, the Ravens have already been installed as the betting favorite.
That hasn’t seemed to faze the Texans at any stage of the season.
The mentality has been: Why can’t the Texans do it?
As Stroud says frequently, the players are in the arena, not the critics.
“For sure, I think everybody counted us out,” Stroud said. “People are going to talk. That’s all they can do, just talk and watch. We’re the ones out there making plays. It’s cool just to see. At Ohio State, we used to call it ‘Woody versus the world.’ Here, I think we should call it ‘NRG versus the world’ or ‘Houston versus the world.’
“It’s cool just to be able to be playing at a high level right now. It’s not about what people say. In the playoffs, it’s 0-0. Everybody has a clean slate.”
Dealing with injuries, demanding practices, a thin playoff history as the only AFC South division franchise to never reach the AFC championship game, the Texans just keep going.
They scored a season-high and playoff-high 45 points against the Browns.
The defense had four sacks and two pick-sixes on interception returns for touchdowns by cornerback Steven Nelson and linebacker Christian Harris.
Tight end Brevin Jordan’s 72-yard catch-and-run was the longest play of the season for the Texans and the longest touchdown in franchise history.
“We’re a confident team,” Ryans said. “We believe in each other. We know we have a special group of men in this locker room, and that’s what it’s all about. It’s one game at a time. It takes growth throughout the year. It takes ups and downs. It takes failure. It takes a lot of learning lessons just throughout the entire year to truly grow, to make you tighter. I think you learn best in those tough moments.
“You see who guys are, their true character, when things get tough, when everything isn’t going well. How do guys respond? We’ve seen that, we’ve seen how everybody responded through those tough times that we had, throughout some tough losses. But everybody continued to stick together, everybody continued to work, and that’s the reason why we’re in the position that we are in now.”
The Texans had a historically bad run defense last season. Now, they’re one of the stoutest run defenses in the NFL. And they’ll need that run-stopping presence Saturday against the Ravens’ talented defense that ranks first in the NFL in scoring defense.
Against the Browns, Ryans and Stroud emerged as the first rookie head coach and rookie quarterback to win a playoff game since 2008 when Jets coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Mark Sanchez accomplished that feat.
And Stroud became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to win a playoff game at 22 years old and 10 months, surpassing his childhood idol Michael Vick.
Several players are playing hurt, including defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Jonathan Greenard, offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, wide receiver Robert Woods and defensive tackles Maliek Collins and Sheldon Rankins.
Stroud absorbed some punishment in the first game. Throughout the season, he has shown his competitive mettle. He has nothing left to prove to his teammates
“I think he was tough as (expletive,” right guard Shaq Mason said after the first game. “Absolutely, we can build on that. He tried to make the plays that came to him. Obviously, we have to do a better job. I think we can build on his toughness and poise and keep stacking.”
And so they have.
The Texans are proving themselves to a skeptical league about their ability to compete. They’ve emerged as a popular success story.
“It’s important for everybody to see who we are,” Ryans said. “I’m happy we weren’t on primetime earlier when we had some growing pains to deal with there, and learning how to win. I think everybody’s just seeing, first off, they see C.J. and how he plays, how prepared he is when he steps on the field.
“And I hope everyone just sees a team that loves to play football, that finishes the right way, plays with high energy, because we have fun playing ball and I hope that’s what everyone sees and that everyone is dialed in to watch Houston Texans football.”
#Texans coach DeMeco Ryans on unselfish nature of the team and buy-in factor @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/h10J3Q5em4
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) January 15, 2024
Under Ryans’ leadership, which has been defined by establishing high standards, a buy-in mentality, unselfishness and a fun working environment.
“One quality that our team has is that word ‘team,’” Ryans said. “It doesn’t matter who makes the play, it doesn’t matter when they make the play, but it’s everybody just in, everybody playing for each other, and that’s the biggest thing that I think garners success. Nobody is worried about who gets the honors, who gets the accolades. It’s truly, everybody cares about just winning and that’s what matters most.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com