There were some bad performances on Divisional Round weekend, but none quite as abysmal as C.J. Stroud’s. The worst part? He basically played the sloppiest game of his career in back-to-back playoff outings. He just got lucky against the Houston Texans’ defense in that Wild Card win over Pittsburgh.
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And that dominant secondary tried to do it again against the New England Patriots. They sacked Drake Maye five times, intercepted him, and forced him to fumble four times (two of which the defense recovered). But still, the Texans fell 28-16 to the Pats. A lot of that falls on Stroud.
Stroud was sacked three times himself, but he also threw four interceptions. And this came just a week after he fumbled five times (two recovered by the defense) and threw a red zone pick in the Wild Card round. That’s 10 times in two playoff games that Stroud put the ball in jeopardy. It has even his most ardent supporters, like LeSean McCoy, questioning whether he can be a franchise QB long-term.
“I’m a big C.J. Stroud fan,” McCoy admitted on the Speakeasy podcast. “But I don’t know if he’s the guy for the future. His rookie year was phenomenal… Then the next year, okay, not what I’m thinking. Then this year? I don’t know, man. You held them boys back. It’s one thing to have a bad game. All his passes was late. … I was like damn, you can’t be this bad!”
There has been an eerie pattern of Ohio State Buckeyes QBs that dominated in college but couldn’t get it done in the pros. It started with Art Schlicter back in the early 1980s and has continued through the 2000s. Troy Smith, Terrelle Pryor, Cardale Jones, Dwayne Haskins (rest in peace), and Justin Fields over the last couple of decades. Just to name a few.
Stroud was supposed to be the guy to break that curse. But as McCoy said, he’s starting to look more and more like his Buckeyes predecessors.
“They always said, Ohio State quarterbacks never really do good in the pros like they do in college. And I always thought that was different with C.J. Stroud,” the analyst said.
Despite Stroud winning a playoff game in each of his first three seasons in the NFL, McCoy and others now believe that the Texans should think long and hard about whether they should invest anymore in the young QB.
“Now I’m at the point where, if the Texans are going to go anywhere, it can’t be with him,” McCoy concluded.
“Because, it’s not just this game. Did ya’ll watch the Steelers game? He didn’t look good against the Steelers. I’m like damn, you’re trying to give this game up! He was so careless. When you’re in the playoffs every small mistake is magnified. He was playing like it was a preseason game!”
Stroud’s fifth-year option must be decided upon this offseason, so the Texans will have to show their hand on Stroud soon enough. We would wager that the Texans pick up that fifth-year option, if only to give themselves one more year to ensure they make the right decision when they inevitably sign the Ohio State alum to a big extension or let him walk after the 2027 campaign.
