HOUSTON – The atmosphere in the Houston Texans’ locker room was bittersweet after the team’s 31-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
The Texans had just fallen to 0-2, but rookie quarterback CJ Stroud had just come off a historic day.
Stroud finished with 384 passing yards (30-of-47), two touchdown passes for the first time in his career, and no interceptions, all against a Texans offensive line missing four starters.
“Man, he’s special,” right guard Shaq Mason told ESPN.
According to ESPN Stats, Stroud’s 384 yards are the second most for a player 21 or younger since the merger (1970), behind Matthew Stafford (422 yards) in 2009, and the highest for a player this week. It became a record. 2. Stroud also had the second-most passing yards as a Texans rookie in franchise history behind Deshaun Watson (402 yards) in 2017.
“There were positives to CJ’s game,” Mason said. “He has what it takes to take the leap and be a great QB in this league.”
Most of Stroud’s damage occurred in the fourth quarter. Houston scored its only points of the quarter, closing the gap to 31-10 on Stroud’s 190 passing yards and second touchdown throw of the day.
“CJ is a competitor and it shows,” coach DeMeco Lyons said. “No matter what the odds are stacked against him, he keeps fighting. It doesn’t matter who’s in front of him. Now we need everyone around him to keep that winning mindset and continue to fight. We need to continue playing winning football.”
Stroud was pressured on 47 percent of his dropbacks and was sacked six times, but he prided himself on the fact that the Texans never gave him a run for his money.
“I feel like it went well,” Stroud said. “Obviously, you always want to do better. We didn’t get sacks in the red zone, we had to score in the red zone. That was definitely the main reason we didn’t score points. That was the reason. We were driving.” The ball was pretty good and we just had to finish the drive.
“Overall, I feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I think there’s hope. I think we showed today that we’re going to fight. We’re just going to turn around and lie down. I think we showed today that we don’t have any intention of doing that.” The score turned around quickly. I’m going to keep fighting until the end.”
Both of Stroud’s touchdown passes came when he wasn’t under pressure, and when he wasn’t under pressure, he completed 22 of 28 for 287 yards and 1 attempt, according to Next Gen Stats. He gained 10.3 yards per game.
But Stroud wasn’t the only one having a career day.
Wide receiver Nico Collins went over 100 yards for the first time in his three-year career with seven catches for 146 yards and one touchdown, and rookie wide receiver Tank Dell, a third-round pick, scored his first touchdown. I caught it and finished. 72 yards.
“We had to make some moves offensively. [in the second half]”And we’re just trying to execute and make plays,” Collins said, “CJ was going over his reads and dicing them.”
The Texans also struggled to get their run game going, rushing for just 52 yards on 26 carries, but most of the burden was placed on Stroud and the passing game.
“He’s shown poise and gotten better week by week, and you can see it on the field,” running back Dameon Pierce said. “We had to do a better job of keeping him around. There’s a reason he was drafted No. 2. He’s a great player and has a great arm.”