FOXBORO, Mass. — The dust from the Houston Texans’ 28-16 divisional round loss to the New England Patriots had settled, the snow had picked up and began to blanket the field and emptied stands at Gillette Stadium, and in the corner of the visitors locker room, C.J. Stroud sat, crammed onto a corner of the bench in front of Will Anderson Jr.’s locker. Draped in towels, the two cornerstones of the Texans franchise leaned into each other, speaking in hushed tones.
Anderson, the two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher, had recorded three sacks to help lead a valiant effort from the Texans defense that had harassed opponents at an elite level all year long and once again gave Houston a shot at victory. Stroud — the franchise quarterback making his third appearance in the divisional round seeking to finally lead his team over the hump — had seen his sudden ball-security issues spill over from the wild-card round into Sunday’s meeting with the Patriots. With four interceptions and just 20 completions on 47 pass attempts and a ghastly passer rating of 28.0, Stroud had almost single-handedly cost the Texans a chance to advance to their first AFC Championship Game and give them a shot at Super Bowl LX.
“I felt like I let a lot of people down,” Stroud later said publicly, echoing sentiments he shared with teammates.
Anderson, in his talk with his teammate, insisted that the quarterback maintain a positive outlook and confidence in himself.
“I’m gonna be 100 on this,” Anderson said when asked about the conversation. “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.”
A range of teammates shared Anderson’s sentiments following the defeat. From rookie wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson, to running back Woody Marks, to linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, the Texans all stressed to Stroud that he couldn’t saddle himself with the guilt for the defeat, and also professed unwavering confidence in him.
“I believe that it wasn’t the best game for a lot of us, man, but that’s just how ball goes,” said Hutchinson, who had four catches for 44 yards. “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.”
But the fact of the matter is, given his stature on the team and his performances this postseason, Stroud indeed will receive the brunt of the criticism for Houston’s seventh straight divisional playoff loss. Meanwhile, questions about his ability to live up to the billing as the long-awaited franchise savior the Texans have needed will persist throughout the offseason and well into next season.
The Texans didn’t need grand heroics from the third-year pro. Given the dominant nature of the NFL’s top-ranked defense, he simply needed to take care of the football, direct the offense with efficiency and Houston would have had a strong chance to win Sunday, just as the team had while reeling off 10 consecutive victories to close the regular season and reach the divisional round.
But the accuracy that Stroud displayed as a rookie, and the sound decision-making that he displayed this season while turning the ball over just eight times (eight interceptions and no fumbles) was essentially non-existent. A battered and inconsistent offensive line certainly altered Stroud’s approach and appeared to impact his poise in the pocket. But poor pass protection has served as a constant theme for Houston’s offense for the duration of Stroud’s career. His response to that pressure in the biggest moments appeared worse than ever. With pass rushers bearing down on him, he forced ill-advised throws that wound up in the hands of opposing defensive backs. Stroud displayed both a blend of shattered confidence and reckless impatience while reluctant to use his legs to extend plays and pick up chunks of yardage and while chucking up the ball in hopes of making plays where there were none to make.
Amazingly, despite his four first-half interceptions — one returned for a touchdown — the Texans remained within striking distance of the Patriots. Houston’s defense recorded two takeaways of its own and denied New England on 7 of 8 third downs, and the Patriots only led 21-10 at halftime.
Despite the angst that Stroud’s struggles may have caused for Texans fans, Houston coach Demeco Ryans said he never considered benching his quarterback for backup Davis Mills, who went 3-0 this season while Stroud recovered from a concussion. Ryans believed that Stroud could bounce back and position his team for victory.
“C.J. is our guy. I believed that he could come back out in the second half and flip it,” Ryans explained. “I believed that he could play better, and he did that in the second half. He did play better. We had some positive drives there in the second half. I believed that he would do that. And he did that.
“As 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.”
There would be no heroics from Stroud, however, as the Texans offense managed only two field goal drives in the second half, and a defense that proved so stout from the middle of the first quarter on, ran out of gas in the fourth quarter while allowing a 32-yard Drake Maye touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte, and letting the Patriots string together time-consuming possessions.
Now, Stroud and the Texans find themselves in a familiar position — entering an offseason after a divisional loss for the third straight year. And the quarterback has positioned himself for great scrutiny. After a historic rookie year, his effectiveness waned last season. After an uneven start to this season, he returned from a three-week concussion-induced layoff and appeared to be trending upward until struggling in the two biggest games of the year. Houston managed to defeat the offensively-challenged Pittsburgh Steelers in spite of his two lost fumbles and an interception. But New England proved formidable enough to win, even though only 7 points came off those five Texans turnovers.
But as he enters his fourth season, the Texans have a big decision to make regarding Stroud. This offseason is the time when they can negotiate a lucrative contract extension that would ensure they have their franchise quarterback for the next half-decade while awarding him an excess of $250 million. But this year’s wilting casts doubts on his ability to deliver elite quarterback play and his worthiness of elite quarterback pay.
Texans officials must decide if they’re better off waiting further before doling out that massive contract extension and instead simply exercise the fifth-year option on his rookie contract.
Regardless of the financial decision, Stroud must figure out how to regain the confidence and discipline that he played with as a rookie while taking what the defense gave him and striking a smart balance between aggression and prudence.
“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.”
Stroud, whose team ranked 29th in red zone efficiency (45.9 percent), offered a frank assessment of his shortcomings. But Ryans — like Stroud’s teammates — took an intentional approach to supporting his quarterback.
After the game, the coach shared a few quiet moments with Stroud.
“I told him, ‘Keep your head up. I love you, like, I’ve got your back,’” Ryans relayed. “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.”
Ryans’ words to Stroud following the loss took him back to his pre-draft visit to Houston.
“For him to say that (tonight) 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 (tonight), 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.”