C.J.’s historic rookie season. Stroud finished on Saturday night.After leading the Houston Texans to the AFC South championship and a first-round victory over the Cleveland Browns last weekend, Stroud was unable to continue his first NFL campaign as the Texans suffered a 34-10 loss at the top of the division. . –
ranked by the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.Against a Ravens defense that led the NFL in scoring at just 16.5 points per game in the regular season, Stroud completed 19 of 33 passes for 175 yards with no interceptions, just the fourth time between the regular season and the year.
after a season in which Stroud was held without a touchdown pass.Stroud threw a pair of highlight-roll third downs in the first half, a 26-yard pass to Devin Singletary and a 29-yard completion to Nico Collins to go into halftime tied at 10-10. But Stroud and the Texans offense couldn’t get anything going in the second half, allowing Baltimore to pull away for a decisive win.
Despite Saturday’s disappointment, Stroud’s first season as an NFL quarterback was undeniably successful. He is a virtual lock to win this year’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year award, which will be presented Feb. 8 during the NFL Awards after leading all quarterbacks who have started at least half of their team’s games in the regular season with a 273.9 passer rating. . yards per game and a 23-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio.Although he missed two games with a concussion, Stroud had the most passing yards of any starting quarterback in NFL history (4,108), behind Andrew Luck (4,374) and Justin Herbert (4,336).
Stroud set several records during the regular season. He began his career by going 191 passes without an interception, the longest streak to begin an NFL career. He later set the rookie record for single-game passing yards and single-game touchdown passes when he threw for 470 yards and five touchdowns in the Texans’ 39–37 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
An NFL rookie quarterback followed that up with one of the best playoff debuts ever in the wild-card round, throwing for 274 yards and three touchdowns — a rookie playoff passing record — to lead the Texans to victory. 45-14 win over the Browns.Stroud’s first NFL season was the best ever for a quarterback who graduated from Ohio State.
His 4,108 yards and 23 touchdowns in the regular season were both all-time marks by a Buckeye quarterback, while his 274 yards and three touchdowns against the Browns were both playoff records for a quarterback who ended his career at OSU.When the 2023 season began, few expected the Texans to finish the year with a winning record, let alone make the playoffs.
Stroud was the biggest reason the Texans exceeded expectations, giving them reason to be very excited about their future prospects under the former Ohio State quarterback..
