Houston Texans second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud needs a rebound this Sunday as the AFC South favorites return home.
While the Texans would love nothing more than to get back to their winning ways, Stroud just needs a moral boost.
The former Offensive Rookie of the Year is coming off his worst performance since being drafted out of Ohio State in 2023. He completed 10-of-21 pass attempts for 86 yards and only picked up six first downs as the Texans fell to 5-2 in a 24-22 loss against the Green Bay Packers.
With that negative performance, Stroud dropped six spots from No. 6 to No. 12 in ESPN’s Total QBR rankings this week. ESPN gave Stroud a 22.1 QBR rating against Green Bay, which marks the second-lowest score of his career.
Stroud’s traditional passer rating against New England was 58.8, which marked the second-lowest rating of his career. He posted a 54.8 rating in a 30-6 loss against the New York Jets after leaving early in the second quarter.
The Total QBR differs from the traditional passer rating. According to ESPN, the QBR “incorporates all of a quarterback’s contributions to winning, including how he impacts the game on passes, rushes, turnovers and penalties.”
The metric also considers scenarios that a traditional passer rating overlooks and looks at “a team’s level of success or failure on every play to provide the proper context and then allocates credit to the quarterback and his teammate to produce a clearer measure of quarterback efficiency.”
Through six games, Stroud’s thrown four interceptions and been sacked 20 times. Two turnovers came in the 34-7 loss against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3.
Here’s a look at where Stroud stacks up against the NFL’s other starting quarterbacks entering Week 8 when it comes to QBR.
NFL QBs ranked by Total QBR before Week 8
- Josh Allen: 77.6
- Lamar Jackson: 74.3
- Jayden Daniels: 73.7
- Joe Burrow: 72.6
- Kyler Murray: 68.7
- Derek Carr: 68.7
- Trevor Lawrence: 63.1
- Jalen Hurts: 63.1
- Patrick Mahomes: 61.2
- Geno Smith: 61.1
- Brock Purdy: 60.9
- C.J. Stroud: 60.2
- Kirk Cousins: 59.4
- Jordan Love: 58.8
- Jared Goff: 57.3
- Baker Mayfield: 56.7
- Andy Dalton: 56.2
- Sam Darnold: 55.1
- Matthew Stafford: 54.4
- Justin Fields: 53.3
- Justin Herbert: 52.6
- Bo Nix: 49.2
- Dak Prescott: 48.9
- Aaron Rodgers: 48.9
- Daniel Jones: 47.0
- Caleb Williams: 46.4
- Anthony Richardson: 42.9
- Jacoby Brissett: 40.3
- Gardner Minshew: 33.6
- Will Levis: 27.5
- Deshaun Watson: 23.5
Stroud and the Texans will take on the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium at noon CT.
