The Houston Texans’ next franchise quarterback finally made his debut on Sunday.
After a preseason that featured true lows against the New England Patriots and an impressive touchdown to Nico Collins against New Orleans, C.J. Stroud made his regular season NFL debut on the road against the Baltimore Ravens. The rookie finished the contest 28 of 44 with no touchdowns and no interceptions on the contest. He added four rushes for 20 yards and one fumble while taking five sacks when using his legs.
Buy Texans TicketsTough loss as Houston falls 25-9. Encouraging signs that should continue to develop:
1) Will Anderson is what you hoped for
2) Stroud looked poised. 43 pass attempts show good faith
3) Creative schemes for offense & defenseHope they're furious, take it out on Indy #WeAreTexans
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) September 10, 2023
Overall, it was a promising start for Stroud in a game where the odds were stacked against him. Baltimore had 19 pressures and frequently found ways around Houston’s offensive line that features injuries to starters Juice Scruggs, Kenyon Green and Tytus Howard. His only turnover of the game came when Houston’s staff made the interesting decision to substitute Michael Deiter, who took all of his camp snaps at left guard, at the right tackle position when George Fant went down. His passer rating unsurprisingly suffered when facing pressure.
C.J. Stroud under pressure today:
No Pressure: 57.1% completion, 84.3 passer rating, 6.4 yrds/att
Pressure: 66.7% completion, 64.6 passer rating, 3.6 yrds/att— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) September 10, 2023
Stroud led several long drives down the field on each of Houston’s three field goal attempts and looked like the rhythmic, accurate passer that was advertised leaving Ohio State. Of his pass attempts, 18.2% were tight window throws per NFL Next Gen Stats and Stroud wasn’t afraid to utilize the pinpoint precision that led him to be the second overall pick in the NFL draft.
The former Buckeye frequently targeted receivers Nico Collins (six catches, 80 yards) and Robert Woods (six catches, 57 yards) peppering both players with over 10 targets. Otherwise, no Houston player received more than four targets for the day.
C.J. Stroud today against the pass rush:
No Blitz: 22/34, 175 yards, 5.1 yds/att, 77.5 passer rating
Blitz: 6/10, 67 yards, 6.7 yds/att, 80 passer ratingNo turnovers.
Houston handled additional rushers as well as you could've hoped for with O-Line injuries #WeAreTexans
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) September 10, 2023
A major concern leaving Ohio State was Stroud’s mobility and he began to alleviate some of those concerns on Sunday. He showed creativity on his scrambles and Baltimore certainly would have ended with a higher sack count without his ability to escape the pocket and target his receivers down the field.
Overall, it was a performance where it appeared that offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik trusted Stroud to carry a major load. The team wasn’t afraid to pass in any situation and they targeted all areas of the field, despite an inability to allow longer plays to develop.
Houston scored no touchdowns on the day and this will likely be the only moral victory of the season that the offense is willing to celebrate. Stroud will need to build upon the promising aspects of his performance and translate them to points in next week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.
