FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – As the snow flakes fell faster and the temperature dipped even colder, C.J. Stroud and his teammates trudged off the field wearing soaked uniforms and sad expressions as the Texans’ once-promising season came to a bitter end.
Inside the Texans’ locker room at Gillette Stadium in the wake of a 28-16 AFC divisional round defeat to the New England Patriots during which he experienced an unanticipated playoff meltdown with a career-high four interceptions, Stroud huddled with star defensive end Will Anderson Jr. for a quiet, serious conversation.
Recommended Videos
This was the lowest moment in a young career for Stroud, a former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. And his teammates and coach DeMeco Ryans expressed their support and compassion for a quarterback who’s hurting after a brutal performance. Stroud was erratic and admittedly careless with the football. That followed a troubling trend this postseason.
No quarterback in NFL history has ever had five interceptions and five fumbles in the playoffs until now. Stroud inexplicably managed to have five fumbles, two lost, and an interception in a blowout victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. And he had four interceptions against an aggressive Patriots defense that hit him constantly while he tried in vain to operate an offense missing injured star wide receiver Nico Collins and reliable tight end Dalton Schultz with a disappearing running game. Stroud, alone, had seven turnovers combined in the two playoff games.
“I look back and I just feel like I let people down, and I’m not happy with that,” said Stroud after thanking his teammates, coaches and the city of Houston. “It hurts, and I’m not naïve to it. I didn’t play my best this year, but I’m going to respond. I’m going to keep my chest up, my chin up high, and I’m going to just keep battling forward.
“If God be for me, who can be against me? I’m just going to rely on that. I think even today, just our team doing great, our defense getting stops, and just being careless with the football, I’ve got to get that fixed, and it’s something that I know I can, so I’m going to get that done.”
Anderson delivered a stellar performance with three sacks and a forced fumble and is likely to become one of the highest paid defensive ends in the game this off-season. Stroud raised questions about his viability for a blockbuster contract extension that felt like an eventuality after his banner rookie year. That plan could be on hold now and understandably so despite Ryans emphasizing Stroud is his guy. At the least, the Texans could push on an extension and see how next year goes with Stroud and secure him contractually with a fifth-year club option exercised this offseason.
“C.J. is our guy,” Ryans said in dismissing a question about whether he contemplating benching Stroud and replacing him with backup Davis Mills, who went 3-0 in the regular season as a starter when Stroud suffered a concussion. “I believed that he could come back out in the second half and flip it. I believed that he could play better, and he did that in the second half. He did play better.
“I always tell our guys: ‘At halftime, it really doesn’t matter what happened in the first half. You have to flush it, remove it, and you just have to go out and finish the right way.’ We’ve been there before. We’ve been in situations much more dire than this, and we were able to bounce back. So, there was no doubt in my mind.”
That is all technically true, at least by the barometer of Stroud didn’t throw any more interceptions.
Stroud completed just 20 of 47 passes for 212 yards. He had an ugly passer rating of 28.0, one of the lowest in NFL playoff history.
And the Texans’ season is over. They are now 0-7 in the AFC divisional round and have lost at this stage of the postseason three years in a row under Ryans’ leadership. The Texans’ Super Bowl ambitions won’t be met, at least not this year. That dream is on hold and in need of an offense that can match or approach the excellence of a Super Bowl caliber defense headlined by Anderson and fellow All-Pro defensive end Danielle Hunter. They combined to sack Patriots quarterback and NFL MVP candidate Drake Maye five times.
Despite this disappointing ending to the season and an extremely rough performance from Stroud as he forced throws, made poor decisions by not taking sacks when there was nothing promising down field and struggled with his accuracy, he has a ton of support behind him. They aren’t turning their back on a friend and teammate and quarterback they believe in wholeheartedly.
“I’m gonna be 100 on this,” Anderson said. “It’s so much bigger than football. It’s so much bigger than football. It’s so much bigger than what everybody has to say, especially for C.J. He’s big on his faith, he knows who he does it for. He knows who he is, and he’s God’s, man.
“God’s hand is upon him. He’s going to be good. We’re rallying behind him. I told him, ‘Man, I still think you’re the best quarterback in this league, hands down. It’s nobody better than you.’ And we’re behind him. We’re rallying behind him, man.”
It was a rough game all-around, obviously.
There was no running game to speak of. Texans rookie Woody Marks had a costly fumble in the third quarter as the offense was closing in on a potential score. He rushed for just 17 yards on 14 carries and the Texans had 48 yards on the ground overall.
Texans receiver Xaxier Hutchinson dropped a pass that was intercepted as it glanced off his hands.
The worst moment for Stroud was a pick-six touchdown as he was hit that former University of Houston cornerback Marcus Jones intercepted and took it to the house.
“I believe that it wasn’t the best game for a lot of us, man, but that’s just how ball goes,” Hutchinson said. “He knows what he could’ve done. But it’s all about us, you know, just playing ball and really just capitalizing on the opportunities that we got, and we didn’t do that tonight as an offense.”
If Stroud had merely operated as a game manager and efficiently led the offense to an average showing without the turnovers and done better than 1 for 4 in the red zone, a familiar failing for the offense, the Texans probably would have advanced to the AFC championship game against the Denver Broncos.
An NFL-leading winning streak of 10 games was snapped. During the regular season, Stroud had just eight interceptions and no lost fumbles. This postseason represented a clear and concerning regression.
“I’m going to learn from this, the ball security and everything, especially the way our defense has played all year,” Stroud said. “It’s something that I had done a pretty good job of, you know, to this point. So I’m going to continue to be better in that area. But I’m not happy with myself when it comes to that, because I took points and opportunities away from our team.”
The offensive line, depleted by massive right tackle Trent Brown unable to play due to a lingering ankle injury that didn’t respond well in warm-ups, reshuffled to Tytus Howard at right guard and Jarrett Patterson plugging in at left guard. Stroud was sacked three times and hit nine times overall. The Patriots, led by K’Lavon Chaisson, a North Shore graduate who had one sack and four quarterback hits, were all over Stroud.
A year ago, Stroud was sacked eight times by the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC divisional round loss at Arrowhead Stadium. This season, he was sacked a career-low 23 times in the regular season after a career-high 52 times last year.
The decision-making of Stroud wasn’t up to his usual careful standard. He looked hesitant at times and noncommittal after the snap. He hasn’t been eager to run since suffering the concussion against the Broncos during the regular season.
The Texans’ defense had breakdowns, too, allowing three touchdowns passes to Maye. That included an outstanding throw and catch to Kayshon Boutte from 32 yards behind All-Pro corner Derek Stingley Jr.
The offense and Stroud was the story, though. Bereft of any true dangerous weapons without Collins and Schultz, Stroud looked ordinary.
“I told him, ‘Keep your head up. I love you, like, I’ve got your back,’” Ryans said. “And that’s what I told him at halftime: ‘This whole team has your back. We’re in this thing together, from Day 1.’ It doesn’t change for me, like we have a really special group, a tight-knit group, and when things don’t go your way, you have bad performances, it’s not a time to point fingers or say it’s all one person. It all starts with me, me as the head coach of this team. We didn’t perform well. Obviously, I didn’t have our guys ready to go in this moment.”
Those words resonated strongly with Stroud.
It reminded him of his visit to the Texans before the former Heisman Trophy finalist and consensus All-American from Ohio State was drafted second overall.
“For him to say that meant a lot,” Stroud said. “It reminded me of when I was about to get drafted, I was 20 years old, a little wet behind the ears, and he told me if I came to this team, he’d always have my back. So, I was appreciative of that support, which will help me get to the other side of this.
“We’ll go back and look at the film. … This year, we didn’t put enough points on the scoreboard. Our defense got stops all year, turnovers, put us in great position and I didn’t put us in position to get the wins by scoring points. I take full responsibility as the leader of the offense.”
Stroud had a minus 15.9 percent completion rate over expected, per Next Gen Stats, for the lowest of a starting quarterback over the past decade. Over the past quarter-century, just one quarterback has won a playoff game with four interceptions and those were Trevor Lawrence in 2022 and Russell Wilson in 2014.
Nonetheless, the Texans’ future appears bright. They rebounded from an 0-3 start and had a resurgent season. A stellar defense returns intact. The offensive line, receiving corps and Stroud having a second season in the Nick Caley system could pay dividends.
“We didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but that’s why we have the offseason for, to get better and grow,” Anderson said. “The growth that you’ve seen from the beginning of the season to now the resiliency, the perseverance, everybody coming to work every day. Obviously, it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted, man, but you talk about a team built on toughness. Man, we just gotta keep finding a way, keep finding a way to get over this hump, and it’s gonna come.”
The message from Anderson to Stroud was one of staying the course and not forgetting his successes, which includes three playoff wins and one Pro Bowl appearance.
“All quarterbacks make mistakes,” Anderson said. “I told C.J., ‘Man, you’re still so early in your career,and the success that you’ve had in your career so far, man, don’t lose sight of that. Don’t lose sight of who you are. Don’t lose sight of all the great things you accomplished. He’s still early in his career. He still has a lot of ball to keep the team from hurting and he has great people to learn from. So, I’m excited about his future and excited about him being a part of this team.”
Texans Pro Bowl linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair can empathize with Stroud. A year ago, he apologized to teammates after the loss to Kansas City. He felt like he fell short.
“Last year, it was me,” Al-Shaair said. “Both of my knees were hurting. I gave up a touchdown. Dude was standing over me, taunting me. I played terrible. And so I know exactly what it feels like to feel like you let the team down. I remember sitting in the locker room in Kansas City literally saying that to the whole team. I couldn’t look nobody in the face.
“So, you know, for me, I know what that pain and things are like. At the end of the day, I told C.J. already, it’s just the work. Just put the work in. Don’t forget the feeling because let it fuel you to where you want to go moving forward for this next season. But that’s what it’s about. Just putting the work in and just putting your head down and just blocking out the noise
Now, the Texans head into the offseason with a lot of chance in the offing.
This group is over,“ Al-Shaair said. ”This is it, That’s the part that sucks,” Al-Shaair said. “The new group that we’re going to have going into the new year, even if 90% of the roster is the same, it’s a new year, it’s a new journey, it’s a new mountain you’ve got to climb. That’s what kills you when you lose.
“But that’s what makes it such a blessing when you can reflect on how far you’ve come. Where this team started, to where we ended up, I’m sure 90% of y’all did not think we would be in the position we’re in starting off 0-3 or even 3-5. So I’m truly grateful to be a part of this group and be a part of this team.”
Stroud had two touchdowns in the playoffs. He didn’t take care of the football well. He clearly needs better protection, a better running game and isn’t the same with Collins out of the lineup.
Stroud dismissed a question about whether he thought about taking himself out.
“No, I don’t think that’s smart on my part to get myself out of the game,” Stroud said. “I don’t think my coach would ever do that, either. But if he did, I would understand. But I think my whole team trusts me. They believe in me.
“Just like how quick it can go back, they know how quick I can get hot. Today just wasn’t my day, and I’m appreciative of my teammates having my back once again. But yeah, that doesn’t cross my mind. Regardless of what happens on the field, I’m going to continue.
“I see everybody put their best foot forward and don’t blame, don’t point fingers and just work. So I’m just really appreciative of that, and I don’t take that lightly. I just want them to know that I love them, and I told them that, and I will always be there for them, and I know they’re there for me. This isn’t the end; this is just something in my story and our story as the Texans, that God willing, it’ll get better soon.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com