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 , 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.
