• C.J. Stroud was impressive to anyone watching Sunday. And now that some coaches and scouts have had a chance to look at the tape, they’re even more impressed.
The numbers do tell a nice story. Stroud finished with a rookie-record 470 yards and five touchdowns on 30-of-42 passing. In the second half alone—in leading the once-moribund Texans back from 10 points down—the second pick in the NFL draft was 16-of-20 for 325 yards and four touchdowns.
The story you may have missed? How quickly and decisively he’s playing, and how he gets to the line, finds what he wants and gets to it quickly. And in a very specific way, and Sunday in particular, he’s taking things he’s learning in-game and applying them immediately.
A great example came on perhaps the biggest and best throw of Stroud’s magical day—on second-and-10 from the Buccaneers’ 41-yard line with 16 seconds left in the game. Stroud and his coaches had noticed Tampa Bay’s coverage looking a little lazy on the backside. When the ball was snapped, he looked left and saw second-year corner Zyon McCollum playing too far up in Cover 2. The poor positioning allowed Tank Dell to run right past him, and Stroud saw a hole bigger than it should have been between the corner and the safety.
Not only did Stroud see the opening, but he was able to absolutely rope the ball into the hole created between McCollum and safety Dee Delaney before those two could get close to the ball for a 26-yard gain. The coach I spoke to said McCollum should’ve given up the throw underneath to Dalton Schultz, and had Schultz caught that ball, it would have forced the Texans to score from the 30-yard line.
Instead, Stroud wound up throwing, and scoring, with another dart to Dell from the 15 with six seconds left.
It’s a good example of offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik’s offense giving Stroud answers, but moreso, it’s about Stroud aggressively taking the right ones. It’s safe to say that the Texans are suddenly in a very good position going forward at the most important position.
