How mature, clutch rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud led Texans to winning season, on verge of playoffs: ‘The time is now’

INDIANAPOLIS – C.J. Stroud calmly compartmentalizes each moment, taking football and life in stride. Everything that deserves his attention -- a blitzing linebacker, a complicated pass coverage scheme or something personal -- it’s all handled with care and detail.

Nothing ever seems to be too big for Stroud, a 22-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Saturday night is just the latest stage for the Texans’ advanced rookie quarterback. With a victory over the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium, Stroud and the Texans will be headed somewhere few could envision happening one year ago.

Of course, that was before the arrival of coach DeMeco Ryans galvanized the locker room, the entire organization and the city. That was before the Texans drafted Stroud, a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist from Ohio State, with the second overall pick.

Everything has changed about the Texans, especially the narratives about a once woebegone franchise that had gone 11-38-1 in the previous three seasons before installing Stroud under center as QB1.

Behind Stroud’s strong right arm, sound decision making and leadership qualities, the Texans are on the rise. Yes, the 9-7 Texans are on the rise.

“The time is now,” Stroud said. “It’s not next year. It’s not the year after that. It’s right now. We have the opportunity to control our own destiny. I’m excited to do that.”

Between a Coach of the Year candidate in Ryans, a two-time Pro Bowl linebacker named the NFL Assistant Coach of the Year last year as the architect of the San Francisco 49ers’ top-ranked defense, Stroud and other good young players like defensive end Will Anderson Jr., wide receivers Nico Collins and Tank Dell and cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., the Texans emerged as a playoff contender.

“As our guys said, we didn’t come this far just to get this far,” Ryans said. “We have a lot to still play for that’s ahead of us.”

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Ten wins gets the Texans into the playoffs for the first time since the 2019 season. A Texans win combined with a loss by the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Tennessee Titans makes Houston the AFC South division champions. They would be the fourth seed and host the fifth-seeded Cleveland Browns. A Texans win combined with wins by the Jaguars and Miami Dolphins over the Buffalo Bills means Houston would be the sixth seed and travel to play the third-seeded Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions. Wins by the Texans, Jaguars and Bills means Houston would be the seventh seed and travel to face the second-seeded Bills.

“It’s something we’ve believed in since the start of this journey together,” Texans linebacker Blake Cashman said. “The guys believe in each other. We have confidence in our game plan that we can go win this game. Once you get in the dance, anything is possible.”

For Stroud, it was all about instilling a winning mentality.

Stroud is accustomed to winning a lot of football games. He had no intentions of being part of a losing situation.

“Yeah, I feel like the group of guys that we put together had a winning mindset from the beginning,” Stroud said. “I really feel like it wasn’t ever in my mind. I was like, ‘Man, I’m going out there to lose.’ Or not to lose, but to try to win. No, we’re going out to win. That’s the mindset I think everybody in our locker room has, so it really was early on – probably even in rookie minicamp being with the rookies – that’s when my confidence started to build up.

“It’s been good because we’ve actually been able to win games, and it’s never about what everybody else says about what we put on the field. We’re the ones in control, everybody else just watches. But, it is what it is, and I think we’ve built something special, but we’ve got to just finish.”

Although this marks Stroud’s first primetime game in the NFL, he’s used to big games.

A year ago for the Buckeyes, Stroud went 3-1 in primetime games. He averaged 304.8 yards per game and had 16 touchdowns with one interception as Ohio State averaged 47.8 points per contest.

“You don’t want to make it too high, make it too low,” Stroud said. “It’s just a regular game. Trying to make it too big, that’ll psyche you out and make you nervous, so I just believe in just staying even-keeled.”

Stroud was leading the NFL in passing yards before suffering a concussion against the New York Jets and missing two games. He returned last week and led the Texans to a win over the Tennessee Titans, clinching a winning season after going 3-13-1 last year under former coach Lovie Smith.

“We love to have 7 out there, the guy he is, the energy he brings,” running back Devin ‘Motor’ Singletary said. “We love 7. That’s our guy. That’s our general.”

He has passed for 3,844 yards, 21 touchdowns and five interceptions for a 99.0 passer rating. Ever since an 0-2 start, Stroud has gotten better and better. In an improvement league, the Texans have won 9 of their past 14 games.

“I think I’ve grown a lot in a lot of different places,” Stroud said. “I think our team has grown as a whole. I think we’ve put most of the games together to make our team really stick like glue. We’ve come into a great situation of now we’re starting to pick up our chemistry better than ever, so it’s like night and day from Week 2 to now.”

And Stroud has stayed within the offense, and not let emotion or pressure overwhelm him while collaborating with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

“The biggest thing when you play that position is controlled aggression,” Slowik said. “Putting it into practice and understanding the whens and the whys of doing that, that takes a talented player and a mentally acute player, but also takes time and reps. I think he’s shown that growth over the course of the year.”

When the Texans brought Ryans home by hiring him as their head coach, they had a vision and hope that he would lift a downtrodden franchise to new heights.

No one thought it would happen quite this fast, though.

Most predictions had the Texans winning no more than six or seven games with a lot of projections of three or four wins. Those predictions underestimated the Texans. In an improvement league, the Texans kept getting better. Their growth is evident.

“For our season, it’s just been a growth process throughout the entire season,” Ryans said. “Our team has continued to grow each and every game, each and every week we’ve grown as a team. That’s been the goal. When I first started, that’s the goal, for me is, ‘Can we just improve one day at a time?

“One week at a time? One game at a time? Can we continue to improve? If we continue to improve, we’ll be in a good spot, and that’s where we are now. Our team has improved, and they’ve earned the right to be in this position.”

The turnaround was built behind an improved passing game, which continued to thrive even after the season-ending broken fibula suffered by Dell, a former University of Houston star. The running game got off to a slow start behind former Pro Bowl alternate runner Dameon Pierce, but improved once Devin ‘Motor’ Singletary became the featured back.

Stroud was superb throughout the season. His return from a concussion sustained against the Jets was pivotal to the Texans’ outlook.

Stroud has fostered friendships in the locker room and throughout the building. It’s a bond that matters a lot to Stroud and creating a winning culture.

“Yeah, we’ve built a lot of strong relationships this year,” Stroud said. “A lot of guys coming in and coming out, and the core group of guys, we’ve really gotten close and invited those new guys in with open arms. I think our front office has done a great job of bringing guys in who like to be in the locker room, and really all of our players I feel are comfortable around each other. We all have great conversations and things like that, so it’s been great to get to know this new group of teammates and brothers that I have, and we’re closer than ever.”

With Stroud and Ryans, the organization has renewed hope and a brighter future.

“We’re still working,” Ryans said. “We’ll see where we are. We are very thankful and appreciative of our fans because we wanted to provide our fans with some bragging rights. As Texans fans, it’s been a long time coming, so we’re happy to provide that for them.

“We’re happy to see the energy, see the excitement from our fans because as a team, we feed off of the energy from our fans and we’ve felt that the entire year from training camp all the way through our season.”

The Texans lost the first meeting to the Colts, 31-20, during the second game of the season. In that game, playing without Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, Stroud was under heavy duress and was sacked six times. He still completed 30 of 47 passes for 384 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

“Yeah, we’re a completely different team, they’re a completely different team,” Ryans said Monday. “For us, I don’t really put much weight on the first game of the year. I start watching and I’m like, ‘Man, who is this team? ' It seems like that was so long ago, playing that second game.

“You put the tape on and it’s like, ‘Wow.’ I’m encouraged by how much better we’ve gotten. You kind of know who we are now. I think early in the year every team in the league is trying to figure out who you are, figure out your identity. How are you going to play? I think now we know who we are.”

Now, the Texans have the seventh-ranked passing game in the league.

On the road, Stroud has four touchdown passes on the road and two touchdown runs.

“I told my teammates earlier, it’s the same game we’ve been playing since we were young, so nothing changes,” Stroud said. “We’ve got to just prepare hard and do everything we need to do to try to win this game and I think that will take us home.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.