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CJ Stroud year 2

The Texans just aren't as good this year for a lot of reasons. Play calling sucks, oline sucks, Stroud is now officially in a sophmore slump. Even if we limp into the playoffs, we all know what will happen.

Chalk it up to another fucked up year and hope next season is better. Same as last year and most of the years before that.
 
To be fair, the broadcast showed a shot of him sitting on the bench with his head down. However, I'm not sure if his head was down because he was pouting or just adjusting his headband. Until proven otherwise, I'm going with the headband.
I didn't watch the game today, I guess I didn't miss much. I'll watch it tomorrow, from reading through this thread, I'm guessing Stroud had a bad game and y'all are having the usual it's Stroud/Slowik discussion.
 
I didn't watch the game today, I guess I didn't miss much. I'll watch it tomorrow, from reading through this thread, I'm guessing Stroud had a bad game and y'all are having the usual it's Stroud/Slowik discussion.
Stroud had an INT where he and Metchie were not on the same page. He threw another bad INT. Mixon had 14 carries for 22 yards. Defense had 8 sacks but gave up big plays and allow Levis to torch their secondary (18-24, 278 YDS, 2 TDs, 1 INT). Fairbairn missed an easy 28-yard FG that would have tied the game. They had a TD that was called back due to too many men in motion. Tank flat out dropped a big 3rd down catch.

There were some good moments but too many mistakes. After today's performance, I don't think anyone can expect a deep playoff run.
 
Stroud had an INT where he and Metchie were not on the same page. He threw another bad INT. Mixon had 14 carries for 22 yards. Defense had 8 sacks but gave up big plays and allow Levis to torch their secondary (18-24, 278 YDS, 2 TDs, 1 INT). Fairbairn missed an easy 28-yard FG that would have tied the game. They had a TD that was called back due to too many men in motion. Tank flat out dropped a big 3rd down catch.

There were some good moments but too many mistakes. After today's performance, I don't think anyone can expect a deep playoff run.
The thing about it, is they do have enough talent to make a run.
 
There were some good moments but too many mistakes. After today's performance, I don't think anyone can expect a deep playoff run.
You got to be kidding - a light about that just came on for you ?
You had to see todays game befor you realized the Texans weren't headed for a
deep trip into post season this year ?
And so now you aren't supporting the team anymore ? Well good riddance, goodbye !
 
You got to be kidding - a light about that just came on for you ?
You had to see todays game befor you realized the Texans weren't headed for a
deep trip into post season this year ?
And so now you aren't supporting the team anymore ? Well good riddance, goodbye !
LMAO. What the heck are you talking about? Exactly where did I write I’m not supporting the team? I was giving SteelB a game summary.

I don’t know what’s funnier. Your reading comprehension skills or you supporting the Chiefs and Texans and having the nerve to question my fandom. After a loss like today or against the Jets or Lions, must be nice to run over to the Chiefs forum, celebrate a win and forget about the Texans.
 
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I feel like a few weeks ago when this slide began and Stroud started talking about being in 3rd & long too much and blaming the coaching, maybe he was ignoring his own responsibility with the off throws.

Now it’s starting to bite him because there were too many off throws this game.

Is his hand still injured that he hit the injury report with a few weeks back?

I’d love to find some excuse for the poor play, but I actually thought the play calling was better for most of this game, they didn’t force the run early when it wasn’t working.

CJ threw 2 pretty bad picks in this game, 2 balls that hit the turf just out of reach of the receiver that should have been better throws, and missed on one or two others.

He also isn’t dealing well when his pocket breaks down, when he starts running he’s as likely as anything else to run into more trouble, rarely finds his open man downfield any more, and IDK if he’s getting a free pass for stepping out the back of the end zone but that has always been a meme-worthy offence and it shows bad awareness and bad footwork.

Yes, coaching and OL still need to improve, but right now our 2nd year QB also needs to take some responsibility and improve, also.

I don’t agree with DeMeco getting on the D to defend the O in this game. The O broke down in the 2nd half for the umpteenth time this season while the D missed some big plays and made lots of big plays. It’s probably time for some finger pointing from Cap, it’s our team captains who’s errors are hurting us, Mixon illegal shift, Stroud missing on throws, Tunsil false start.

Get on that training field and fix your issues.
 
LMAO. What the heck are you talking about? Exactly where did I write I’m not supporting the team? I was giving SteelB a game summary.

I don’t know what’s funnier. Your reading comprehension skills or you supporting the Chiefs and Texans and having the nerve to question my fandom. After a loss like today or against the Jets or Lions, must be nice to run over to the Chiefs forum, celebrate a win and forget about the Texans.so
So you are are still with us for the "long run " ? That's good to know, so I read your comments
wrong so then there's clearly only one explanation: have to blame it on my reading comprehension skills.
 
The Texans just aren't as good this year for a lot of reasons. Play calling sucks, oline sucks, Stroud is now officially in a sophmore slump. Even if we limp into the playoffs, we all know what will happen.

Chalk it up to another fucked up year and hope next season is better. Same as last year and most of the years before that.
Hopefully it's just a slump. Hopefully it's not that defenses have figured him out and last year was a fluke. I think it would be unprecedented to have a QB put up rookie numbers like CJ did last year and then fall off a cliff but if it could happen it would happen to either the Browns or Texans.
 
I feel like a few weeks ago when this slide began and Stroud started talking about being in 3rd & long too much and blaming the coaching, maybe he was ignoring his own responsibility with the off throws.

Now it’s starting to bite him because there were too many off throws this game.

Is his hand still injured that he hit the injury report with a few weeks back?

I’d love to find some excuse for the poor play, but I actually thought the play calling was better for most of this game, they didn’t force the run early when it wasn’t working.

CJ threw 2 pretty bad picks in this game, 2 balls that hit the turf just out of reach of the receiver that should have been better throws, and missed on one or two others.

He also isn’t dealing well when his pocket breaks down, when he starts running he’s as likely as anything else to run into more trouble, rarely finds his open man downfield any more, and IDK if he’s getting a free pass for stepping out the back of the end zone but that has always been a meme-worthy offence and it shows bad awareness and bad footwork.

Yes, coaching and OL still need to improve, but right now our 2nd year QB also needs to take some responsibility and improve, also.

I don’t agree with DeMeco getting on the D to defend the O in this game. The O broke down in the 2nd half for the umpteenth time this season while the D missed some big plays and made lots of big plays. It’s probably time for some finger pointing from Cap, it’s our team captains who’s errors are hurting us, Mixon illegal shift, Stroud missing on throws, Tunsil false start.

Get on that training field and fix your issues.
Would also like to find out if our 6’4, 220 QB is willing to run a QB sneak.
 
Hopefully it's just a slump. Hopefully it's not that defenses have figured him out and last year was a fluke. I think it would be unprecedented to have a QB put up rookie numbers like CJ did last year and then fall off a cliff but if it could happen it would happen to either the Browns or Texans.
IMHO. It's now up to Stroud AND Slowik to make adjustments to how defenses are playing the Texans. It might require getting the ball out quicker, changing the progressions on the plays and taking more checkdowns to keep the chains moving.

Also, a couple of times this year, I've heard players mentioning that they were surprised by defenses doing something different on game day than they saw on tape. Using this game as the example. My questions, when they saw the Titans playing the run differently, what were the adjustments, how long did it take to adjust and why didn't the adjustments work?

 
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No need to panic about our CJ brothers and sisters!
How often do we see a sophomore slump with young star QBs?
I have no doubts about CJ - he has a good head on his shoulders and is still only just 23 years old!
I'm sure he will come out of this little slump.
We have yet to see the best of our young star!
 
Do yall remember the reports that prior to being drafted CJ visited a team and he was put off with the OC or some other coach. Something like they got into an argument or something.

I don’t know if it was the Texans or not.

But it would make sense if it was the Texans.

Edit: @Lucky

Lucky has a good memory. I think he remembers this.
 
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Do yall remember the reports that prior to being drafted CJ visited a team and he was put off with the OC or some other coach. Something like they got into an argument or something.

I don’t know if it was the Texans or not.

But it would make sense if it was the Texans.

Edit: @Lucky

Lucky has a good memory. I think he remembers this.
I also remember this. However, similar to leaking the S2. I always thought it was an agenda being pushed by a team wanting him to drop or an agent of one of the top QBs in the 2023 draft.
 
Do yall remember the reports that prior to being drafted CJ visited a team and he was put off with the OC or some other coach. Something like they got into an argument or something.

I don’t know if it was the Texans or not.

But it would make sense if it was the Texans.

Edit: @Lucky

Lucky has a good memory. I think he remembers this.
Yeah, it was reported that he got into it with Slowick during a team visit and that Slowick didn't want him
 
I just don't know how DeMeco can say the offense did enough to win.
They scored 20 points.

They held the Cowboys to 10 points. No way the Titans should have scored 20 points much less 32.

Could the offense have played better? Yeah. Is it good that the Texans sacked the QB 8 times & forced three turnovers? Yeah. But none of that means anything when you give up 32 points to a team like the Titans.
 
They scored 20 points.

They held the Cowboys to 10 points. No way the Titans should have scored 20 points much less 32.

Could the offense have played better? Yeah. Is it good that the Texans sacked the QB 8 times & forced three turnovers? Yeah. But none of that means anything when you give up 32 points to a team like the Titans.
For all the good plays the defense made, they still gave up three 90+ yard drives and several explosive plays. So Meco has a point but imo the blame goes to the entire team. Starting with the head coach on down.
 
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https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/st...gles-saquon-barkley-mvp-ideal-playoff-bracket
The Big Thing: What's wrong with C.J. Stroud this season?

The Texans were supposed to take over the NFL this season. That's what last season told us. They finished on a 7-3 run to win the AFC South and get into the playoffs. Then they ran over the Browns in their home playoff game. Stroud became the youngest quarterback to ever win a postseason game, and in that victory, the then-rookie promised us that every year would get better and better and better. It felt like Stroud would make at least the AFC Championship Game in Year 2 then maybe the Super Bowl then win the next 10 championships consecutively.

Stroud was an NFL-ready rookie who could throw punches with the best in the AFC, the next in line to challenge Patrick Mahomes and start setting records. When the Texans started loading up on talent this past offseason -- trading for Stefon Diggs, signing Joe Mixon and Danielle Hunter -- the hype train got predictably and understandably out of control.

The 7-5 Texans are far from a disappointment, and Stroud is far from bad. But they're 2-4 over their past six games after Sunday's embarrassing 32-27 home loss to the Titans, and Stroud is 25th in QBR at 51.3. Stroud threw two picks and ended the Tennessee game by taking a sack/going out of bounds for a safety. It feels like the team that was supposed to make the leap has instead taken a few stumbling steps backward.

Despite the recent rocky weeks, I'm nowhere near the panic button on Stroud. He has completed 63.1% of his throws for 2,875 yards and 14 touchdowns with nine picks. There are three key reasons that last season's sensation feels like this season's disappointment, and most of them are outside of Stroud's control. There's plenty he can do better as a young passer, and he will. But when I watch the Texans' offense, this is what I see:

A change in opponents' defensive approach

In 2023, Stroud was at the helm of a Texans offense run by first-time coordinator Bobby Slowik. We didn't know what was going to happen, and the rest of the league didn't, either. The Texans ran a lot of the Shanahan-tree hits. They got under center, ran the football a bunch and looked for deep play-action shots behind the run. As such, Stroud saw a lot of Cover 3 -- on 34.8% of his dropbacks, to be exact. The Shanahan offense wants you in Cover 3; it was built to beat that defense. Once Stroud emerged as an aggressive and accurate middle-of-the-field passer, the Texans started to shred opponents with all of the classics we know from the 49ers' offense, including deep crossing patterns and in-breaking routes behind bamboozled linebackers.

In 2024, defenses said no more. They are playing Cover 3 on 26.6% of Stroud's dropbacks, robbing him of the single-high looks he ripped up last season. In their place, opposing defenses have dialed up the two-high; they're playing Cover 2 on twice as many dropbacks this season (20% of the time) as they did last season. Similarly, Stroud saw base defense on 27.9% of his dropbacks in 2023, and now he sees it on only 21.6% of them.

This is not a structural response to a change in the Texans' passing attack. Houston is running play-action at the same rate as it did last season and dropping back from the shotgun just about as much as it did a season ago. The Texans, with the addition of Mixon in the backfield, are even better running the football than they were last season, but that probably has something to do with the lighter box counts, as well.

Last season, defenses were largely playing Stroud like a rookie quarterback. This season, they're playing him more like an elite quarterback -- and Stroud is still learning how to deal with that. The big plays are still there despite the two-high deployment (17.5% of his passes were explosive in 2023, and 15.8% are this season), but the down-to-down success rate has taken a hit, dropping from 47.6% to 42.5%. That's the difference between 10th last season and 26th today.

Does this mean that Stroud's 2023 season was a mirage? Was he a schemed-up QB with puffed-up numbers? Absolutely not. The dude shredded then, and he shreds now. Stroud still has all the arm talent, the ability to throw on move, the tight-window accuracy and the downfield ball placement that he had in 2023. To illustrate: His touchdown throw to Nico Collins against the end line between three defenders was a sight to see.



It's just harder than it was last season because Stroud is now getting star treatment. This is something he'll have to grow through, just as Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow all did when defenses started catering to their particular games. And Stroud will be all the better for it once he does.

Bad interceptions (and bad interception luck)

Stroud has thrown some gnarly interceptions this season. The one in the end zone against the Lions that galvanized the Detroit comeback was rough, and he sailed a bad one against the Cowboys early in that game, as well. His second pick against the Titans was another rough one; it seemed like he completely disregarded the underneath defender and got punished accordingly.



If it appears like these interceptions have come out of nowhere, well, they have and they haven't. Stroud threw only five interceptions last season. His interception rate of 1.0% was one of the best in the game and absurdly low for a rookie passer who started the entire season. This season, he has thrown nine for an INT rate of 2.3%.

Nobody likes when the interception rate doubles, but it's just about average for the league this season, so it's not like Stroud is handing the ball away at an egregious clip. Nor is Stroud putting the ball in harm's way at an egregious clip. His turnover-worthy play rate is 2.8%, which is exactly what it was last season. It's easy to forget in all the rookie hype but he got away with a lot of window-testing last season. This season, he's just regressing back to the mean.

Take as an example his first interception against the Titans. On this play, Stroud and wide receiver John Metchie III have a disagreement on where Metchie's route should break. Stroud tries to pull him downfield, whereas Metchie stays rooted to the spot.



This is a mundane miscommunication; it does not mean Stroud is hitting some sort of enormous sophomore wall that he will never overcome. This sort of play happens all the time but usually falls incomplete. The Texans caught a bad roll of the dice, and it ended in a pick.

I'm not going to get too worked up over interception rate, especially when it's mostly just a meteoric 2023 season crashing back down to earth. Stroud is an aggressive pocket passer who gives his receivers chances to make big plays. Many of his best throws wouldn't be attempted by a quarterback fearful of throwing a pick. You have to die by the sword every so often when you live by it.
 
Pass protection that can't hold up

It's no secret that the Texans are suffering in pass protection this season. Stroud has a pressure rate of 41%, which is the fourth highest in the NFL. Of the five quarterbacks who have been pressured on at least 40% of their dropbacks (Stroud, Anthony Richardson, Will Levis, Jacoby Brissett and Deshaun Watson), Stroud has by far the best overall expected points added (EPA) per dropback and success rate. He is the only guy who's even kind of making it work.

A high pressure rate can often tell you as much about a quarterback as it does an offensive line, though. Quarterbacks who hold onto the ball for too long and don't know how to find their checkdowns invite pressure. But Stroud's time to pressure is 2.54 seconds, the sixth-fastest number in the league. Stroud has been pressured in under 2.5 seconds 96 times this season, which is the most in the NFL and 18 more quick pressures than he saw last season (on about 90 fewer dropbacks).

So, it's not just that the Texans' offensive line is losing a lot. It's that the O-line is losing a lot and losing fast. Poor line play is the primary culprit. Quick pressure typically comes from the interior, and guard performance has been a big issue for Houston all season. Left guard Kenyon Green was a target of defensive coordinators before he was lost for the season due to a shoulder injury, and 31-year-old right guard Shaq Mason is showing his age.

But some of the issues are structural too. Slowik is a chip off the old Shanahan block, and the Shanahan offense is notorious for having a small menu of protection rules and an exploitable lack of checks and adjustments at the line of scrimmage.
Here's a nice example. The Titans present a five-man surface on this third-and-9 play. The player over the right guard is Kenneth Murray Jr., who is technically an off-ball linebacker. But because he has stepped right up to the line of scrimmage, you'd like to be able to set this protection with the five offensive linemen each taking the down defensive player opposite them.



Instead, because the Texans don't change the protection call at the line of scrimmage and stay in their called slide protection, the running back is left to step up onto Murray. Sometimes, backs have to take a linebacker one-on-one in pass protection, so this isn't that wild. But because Murray is already up at the line of scrimmage, he already has broken the shape of the pocket before the back can get to him. Stroud is immediately forced to reset in the pocket, which throws off the timing and accuracy of the throw.

This is the sort of thing Houston could clean up schematically by giving either center Jarrett Patterson (who is in for Juice Scruggs, who has moved to left guard) or Stroud more control at the line of scrimmage. But the team can't just do that overnight; it has to be added to the playbook, installed in camp and practiced rep after rep after rep after rep. You can be certain that a revamped approach to protection (both via personnel and schematically) will be a focus of the Texans' 2025 offseason. But the issues in 2024 won't disappear anytime soon.

 
This morning on 610, they aired a couple of insightful audio clips from analysts, including Chris Long (I missed the name of the first analyst). Both shared a concerning consensus: CJ Stroud’s development is being derailed this season. Long attributed the issues to two main factors: the Texans’ offensive line and the questionable decisions of offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

Long highlighted two crucial touchdowns to Nico Collins in the past two weeks that were negated by avoidable penalties from the offensive line. Meanwhile, Slowik’s poor play-calling has stunted CJ’s growth as a quarterback, forcing him into a position where he feels pressured to make plays that aren’t there.

The bottom line is troubling—CJ is starting to look skittish, a quarterback pressing under duress rather than developing naturally. Long went as far as to suggest that for CJ to have a fighting chance in 2024, the team must strip play-calling duties away from Slowik.

It’s hard not to draw parallels to the David Carr era. Someone in this organization needs to intervene immediately before history repeats itself. This situation is spiraling fast.
 
They scored 20 points.

They held the Cowboys to 10 points. No way the Titans should have scored 20 points much less 32.

Could the offense have played better? Yeah. Is it good that the Texans sacked the QB 8 times & forced three turnovers? Yeah. But none of that means anything when you give up 32 points to a team like the Titans.
True. But an offense that doesn't cross midfield or puts up 54 yards in the 2nd half is not doing their part. Shoot, they are contributing to the loss. Like BOB would say, "it's complementary football".

I'll put it this way. If the offense just had one decent, time-consuming drive that kept the defense off the field in the 2nd half, I don't think they give up 32 points. It's a 60-minute game. The offense did not play 60 minutes.

Is it too much to ask the offense for one decent drive in the 2nd half?
 
This morning on 610, they aired a couple of insightful audio clips from analysts, including Chris Long (I missed the name of the first analyst). Both shared a concerning consensus: CJ Stroud’s development is being derailed this season. Long attributed the issues to two main factors: the Texans’ offensive line and the questionable decisions of offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

Long highlighted two crucial touchdowns to Nico Collins in the past two weeks that were negated by avoidable penalties from the offensive line. Meanwhile, Slowik’s poor play-calling has stunted CJ’s growth as a quarterback, forcing him into a position where he feels pressured to make plays that aren’t there.

The bottom line is troubling—CJ is starting to look skittish, a quarterback pressing under duress rather than developing naturally. Long went as far as to suggest that for CJ to have a fighting chance in 2024, the team must strip play-calling duties away from Slowik.

It’s hard not to draw parallels to the David Carr era. Someone in this organization needs to intervene immediately before history repeats itself. This situation is spiraling fast.
I just said the same thing in another thread....
Slowick and the weak are Oline is killing this team


I honestly think this is the main problem. The Oline is straight up booty cheeks! CJ is pressured in under 2.5 seconds on damn near every drop back. AND, and the Texans average almost 9 yards a play on third down. That stat and the fact that the Oline can't block is a recipe for disaster.

That has to be in CJ's head, no doubt. I've been watching clips of plays all day, even posted one yesterday where guys are open, but CJ is either already pressured, or bailing the pocket. Now, sometimes it looks like he could have had room to chuck it anyway, but damn...when you got that Sweat dude (almost 4 bills) barreling down you...what is a guy to do?

Speaking of the 400 pound dude, WHY in the hell is Slowick running hurry up and slamming it right into that guy?? That had to be the stupidest play call all day. They went hurry up on 3rd and 1and slammed it into the middle of the line. Just felt out unaware of what the hell is going on.


Again, when is the last time CJ has been under center and run a legit play action pass? Slowick is as much to blame as the Oline, IMO.

Don't know about ya'll but this Oline exudes ZERO confidence, ZERO attitude, and ZERO want to. It seems to be just going through the motions.....Sad.

Something needs to change and change quick. CJ gonna Carr up if things stay the same.
 
For all the good plays the defense made, they still gave up three 90+ yard drives and several explosive plays. So Meco has a point but imo the blame goes to the entire team. Starting with the head coach on down.
Exactly! It's a team game. What if that TD was not called back because of the mental mistake of two players in motion? What if the offense had just one 8 minute drive in the 2nd half? That's why I think DeMeco should have criticize none or both sides of the ball. He's got to clean that up.
 
So Meco has a point but imo the blame goes to the entire team. Starting with the head coach on down.
I want to agree with you. But as it was they were in position to take the lead there at the end, heck, they did... but the ball was snapped too early, two players were caught in motion & the TD was erased.

Even with that debacle, they had an opotunity to tie the game but missed a field goal.

The coaches had them in position to win. Maybe you can complain that the OC isn't blowing up the score board, that's a good argument. But I'm completely behind DeMeco saying the Offense played well enough to win. It was ugly, but it was gritty & they scored enough points to win.
 
I just said the same thing in another thread....
Slowick and the weak are Oline is killing this team


I honestly think this is the main problem. The Oline is straight up booty cheeks! CJ is pressured in under 2.5 seconds on damn near every drop back. AND, and the Texans average almost 9 yards a play on third down. That stat and the fact that the Oline can't block is a recipe for disaster.

That has to be in CJ's head, no doubt. I've been watching clips of plays all day, even posted one yesterday where guys are open, but CJ is either already pressured, or bailing the pocket. Now, sometimes it looks like he could have had room to chuck it anyway, but damn...when you got that Sweat dude (almost 4 bills) barreling down you...what is a guy to do?

Speaking of the 400 pound dude, WHY in the hell is Slowick running hurry up and slamming it right into that guy?? That had to be the stupidest play call all day. They went hurry up on 3rd and 1and slammed it into the middle of the line. Just felt out unaware of what the hell is going on.


Again, when is the last time CJ has been under center and run a legit play action pass? Slowick is as much to blame as the Oline, IMO.

Don't know about ya'll but this Oline exudes ZERO confidence, ZERO attitude, and ZERO want to. It seems to be just going through the motions.....Sad.


Something needs to change and change quick. CJ gonna Carr up if things stay the same.
The Titans ol sucked and Levis was able to hang in there and make plays after being beat up all game long. Why couldn't Stroud hang in there and do the same?
 
The Titans ol sucked and Levis was able to hang in there and make plays after being beat up all game long. Why couldn't Stroud hang in there and do the same?
Good question… but it is apparent the crappy OLine play is in his head. I mentioned he had guys open but was already bailing or just didn’t throw it
 
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I want to agree with you. But as it was they were in position to take the lead there at the end, heck, they did... but the ball was snapped too early, two players were caught in motion & the TD was erased.

Even with that debacle, they had an opotunity to tie the game but missed a field goal.

The coaches had them in position to win. Maybe you can complain that the OC isn't blowing up the score board, that's a good argument. But I'm completely behind DeMeco saying the Offense played well enough to win. It was ugly, but it was gritty & they scored enough points to win.
Penalties at key times, sacks, not being able to run the ball and throwing interceptions equates to a bad offense.

With that type of mentality, the defense also did well enough to win this game. They caused two turnovers, one in which was a pick 6. The defense bailed the offense out several times. Two of the offensive scores came right after turnovers in which gave them outstanding field position.

IMO Meco was dead wrong because this loss was caused by the mistakes from all parties.
 
This morning on 610, they aired a couple of insightful audio clips from analysts, including Chris Long (I missed the name of the first analyst). Both shared a concerning consensus: CJ Stroud’s development is being derailed this season. Long attributed the issues to two main factors: the Texans’ offensive line and the questionable decisions of offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

Long highlighted two crucial touchdowns to Nico Collins in the past two weeks that were negated by avoidable penalties from the offensive line. Meanwhile, Slowik’s poor play-calling has stunted CJ’s growth as a quarterback, forcing him into a position where he feels pressured to make plays that aren’t there.

The bottom line is troubling—CJ is starting to look skittish, a quarterback pressing under duress rather than developing naturally. Long went as far as to suggest that for CJ to have a fighting chance in 2024, the team must strip play-calling duties away from Slowik.

It’s hard not to draw parallels to the David Carr era. Someone in this organization needs to intervene immediately before history repeats itself. This situation is spiraling fast.

Brian Billick was on one of the talkies this morning and said the constant pressure affects the QB even on plays when the blocking holds up and there is no pressure. It gets burned into your mind so much so now that your internal clock is sped up and all of your focus isn’t on your timing, progressions, footwork, etc.

The Texans are David Carr’ing CJ Stroud. (my words, not Billick’s)
 
The Titans ol sucked and Levis was able to hang in there and make plays after being beat up all game long. Why couldn't Stroud hang in there and do the same?
I'll play. With the state of the Texans offense and their inability to sustain drives. I'm not sure you want Stroud to "hang in there" and take the sacks that Levis is taking and putting the offense into worse down and distance situations.

Also, pocket awareness plays a part in the answer. I think due to the number of sacks and hits, Stroud's internal clock is a tick too fast and he might be too aware of the rush. On the other hand, at this point in his career, Levis' internal clock is a tick too slow, and he is taking too many sacks. Here is a good breakdown.

 
With that type of mentality, the defense also did well enough to win this game. They caused two turnovers, one in which was a pick 6.
In the world I live in the team with the most points win.

& just because I say the offense played well enough to win doesn’t mean they played well. But you'll win more games scoring 20 points than you will giving up 32.
 
Brian Billick was on one of the talkies this morning and said the constant pressure affects the QB even on plays when the blocking holds up and there is no pressure. It gets burned into your mind so much so now that your internal clock is sped up and all of your focus isn’t on your timing, progressions, footwork, etc.

The Texans are David Carr’ing CJ Stroud. (my words, not Billick’s)
Exactly, Levis was sacked 8 times, threw a pick 6 & fumbled the ball. But he had a top 5 defense that held the opponent to 20 points.
 
The Texans are David Carr’ing CJ Stroud. (my words, not Billick’s)
David Carr didn't go through anything Phillip Rivers, Eli Manning, or Jared Goff didn't. It takes a special person to become a special QB in the NFL.

If his jaw was as tough as it was pretty he'd be in the HOF
 
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