It’d be hard to rank the things that have been most impressive about C.J. Stroud’s rookie year-but what comes first for me was on full display Saturday.And that is how nothing has seemed too big for the Houston Texans’ star in his first year as an NFL quarterback. Here is a player who had a three-year college career. No redshirt. No senior year. He turned 22 after his first fourth NFL start. And he plays in a league that devoured players such as Peyton Manning (27 picks), John Elway (7-to-14 touchdown-interception ratio), Matthew Stafford (20 picks) and Josh Allen (67.9 passer rating) in their rookie seasons. And Stroud plays for a first-year coach and first-time coordinator, on a team that went 11-38-1 in the 50 games before drafting him. Yet, somehow, someway, Stroud has landed on the NFL’s playoff stage with the poise of someone in his 30s, looking like he’s played in the postseason every year.
The numbers from the Texans’ 45–14 rout of the Cleveland Browns go a long way in telling the story. The stats were great, with Stroud throwing for 274 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-21 passing, and his team averaging more than a point (45) per offensive play (38). But the numbers certainly don’t show the full picture of how cool, calm and collected Stroud was at just about every turn of his first postseason afternoon in the pros. “I feel like God prepared me for everything that I’m doing now,” Stroud told me, from the bowels of NRG Stadium, a few minutes after the game. “Since the time I was a kid, I knew that I had a special talent, and I’ve been through a lot in my life. There’s been a lot of adversity. Even me going to Ohio State, all of it prepared me for moments like these, so that I’m blessed enough just to be living my dream.” Call it a result of his faith. Call it a result of his experience. Call it a product of the scars he’s taken, both in life and football. Whatever you want to call it, you have to call what we’re watching rare. Because it is. The playoffs are here, and so we’ve got plenty to get in the MMQB. Over in the Takeaways, you’ll find … • The Green Bay Packers’ bludgeoning of the Dallas Cowboys, and what it means for both teams. • The Chiefs’ defense as the lead dog in Kansas City? • The inside story of the first two hires off the carousel-in New England and Washington. • The legend that could soon be joining the Las Vegas Raiders. But we’re starting with Stroud, the Texans, and a pretty extraordinary Saturday in Houston. Yes, Houston is benefitting from a lot of things working right now. The defense, buoyed by a gaggle of young, high-draft stars such as Will Anderson Jr. and Derek Stingley Jr., is playing with the same sort of relentless rage that DeMeco Ryans’s units with the San Francisco 49ers did. The overall team speed is blinding. Years of offensive line investments are paying off, and a deep, balanced group of skill talent, even without burgeoning star Tank Dell, is improving by the week. Ryans, in his own right, looks every bit the coaching star so many thought he’d be.
