Houston Texans third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud endured a nightmare outing throughout Sunday’s divisional-round playoff recreation on the New England Patriots, as he tossed 4 interceptions over the competition’s first two quarters.
Corridor of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman was calling the matchup for ESPN/ABC. Following Houston’s 28-16 loss to New England, Aikman sounded alarms about the place Stroud appears to be at this level in his profession.
Troy Aikman involved about C.J. Stroud’s lack of growth
“[Texans head coach] DeMeco Ryans and [general manager] Nick Caserio, they’ve bought some robust choices they gotta make about this workforce on the offensive facet of the ball,” Aikman defined, per Kristen Wong of Sports activities Illustrated. “They changed Bobby Slowik final 12 months, after his two years because the offensive coordinator. C.J. Stroud has been chasing his rookie success for the final two years. He is not been the identical participant. We have not seen the event from him. There is a cause for that, and it must be addressed.”
The second general choose of the 2023 NFL Draft, Stroud earned Offensive Rookie of the 12 months Award honors for his debut professional marketing campaign. He seemingly has regressed since then, nonetheless, and one could not be blamed for considering the moments have been too massive for him in the course of the ongoing postseason event.
Whereas Houston earned a 30-6 wild-card playoff victory on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 12, Stroud turned the first player since New York Giants legend Eli Manning (2007 common season) to win a recreation with 5 fumbles. Stroud misplaced two misplaced fumbles and threw an interception versus Pittsburgh.
In brief, there are causes to concern his tough day at New England’s Gillette Stadium wasn’t a one-off.
Joe Buck: C.J. Stroud missed open throws vs. Patriots
Per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN, Ryans mentioned after Sunday’s loss that “C.J. is our man.” ESPN’s Joe Buck, Aikman’s commentary associate, advised that the Texans could have to suppose twice about being all-in on Stroud in the course of the offseason.
“He missed some open throws tonight, turned the ball over quite a bit once more, which is what he did in Pittsburgh,” Buck added about Stroud. “This was not efficiency.”
Exterior of creating a blockbuster commerce, it is unlikely the Texans would have the ability to land an marketed improve over Stroud this spring. That mentioned, one wonders if Caserio will make some calls relating to such a transaction earlier than the 2026 draft will get underway.
