Before this year’s draft, most experts had CJ Stroud as the most NFL-ready quarterback available. That may have been a historic understatement. At the moment, Stroud is the clear-cut offensive rookie of the year favorite and has helped turn the Houston Texans into a playoff contender.
The Texans had the second pick in the 2023 draft after going 3-13 the previous year. After the Carolina Panthers made the safe choice of selecting Bryce Young at No 1, Houston made the obvious move of selecting Stroud with the idea that he could start immediately. Oh boy, could he, it turns out! After Sunday’s 30-27 road win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Texans are now 5-4 and in pole position for the final AFC wildcard spot.
To their credit, the Bengals didn’t make it easy – and Houston are not a perfect team. After the Texans took a 20-7 lead, Joe Burrow’s second-half magic helped Cincinnati tie the game 27-27 late in the fourth quarter. The Texans needed some luck to survive: Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd dropped what would have been a surefire touchdown that would have put them ahead, but instead they merely kicked the field goal to even out the score. Stroud then led his team on a game-winning drive that ended in Matt Ammendola’s field goal.
It wasn’t an overwhelming victory, but the Texans were in a position to win because Stroud compiled 356 passing yards on the day, with both a passing and a rushing touchdown. All told, Stroud already has 2,626 passing yards in just nine games, third-most in NFL history for a rookie QB. He has thrown 15 touchdowns so far this season, but even more impressive is the fact that he’s thrown just two interceptions. One of those came today late in the game, but the poise he showed to lead his team to victory said everything about his leadership.
While Stroud has shown himself to be NFL-ready, even the most prepared young quarterback requires the right coaching staff to succeed. In the last three years, the Texans have struggled to find the right head coach, cycling through Romeo Crennel, David Culley and Lovie Smith in quick succession.
Heading into the new season, they signed San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans – the reigning AP Assistant Coach of the Year – to a six-year deal to replace Smith. In one of his first major decisions, Ryans made the not necessarily automatic call to name Stroud the opening day starter.
Like his QB, Ryans has not yet betrayed much inexperience. Heading into the Week 10 game against the Bengals, the Texans had a whopping 23 players on the injury report but Ryans seemed unfazed. “We’re going to have our best guys out there,” he told the media. “Whoever is available, we’re going to have our best guys out there and we’re going to play the Texan brand of football.”
What exactly is the Texans’ brand of football? Well, it’s hard to define right now considering that this roster is still a work-in-progress. A more talented Texans team probably don’t let the Bengals nearly pull off a comeback victory. On the other hand, a less resilient team almost certainly would have folded under the pressure against a postseason-tested Cincinnati squad.
In the last three seasons, after they traded Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for nearly nothing, the Texans have been one of those teams fans had come to expect to lose. They won just 11 games during that stretch and permanently parted ways with disgruntled would-be franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2021 after a series of serious sexual misconduct allegations. (The Texans eventually were able to trade Watson to the Cleveland Browns for a bevy of draft picks, a ridiculous steal considering there was zero chance Watson would ever play another snap in Houston.) But Ryans deserves immense credit for changing the atmosphere around what had become a franchise with a poisonous atmosphere.
After several years of futility, it was uncertain how long it would take Houston to rebuild when they drafted Stroud. It was entirely possible that they could have picked a NFL-caliber quarterback to lead a not-ready-for-primetime roster. However, the Texans are already a win away from doubling last year’s win total and have a real shot at making the postseason. Not only does the future look bright, the present seems surprisingly sunny as well.
MVP of the week
Dan Campbell, head coach, Detroit Lions. As a rule, we don’t typically select a head coach for MVP. It’s the players who make the key plays, after all. However, sometimes rules are meant to be broken, as Campbell proved on Sunday. With the Lions at the Los Angeles Chargers’ 26-yard line in a tied game with 1:47 on the clock on fourth-and-two, the safe play would have been to call in the field goal unit, hope for a successful attempt and then rely on the defense to keep the Chargers off the board.
Instead, Campbell trusted Jared Goff to get those two yards, even though an incompletion would leave the game tied and give the ball back to LA with a chance to win. To the Chargers’ dismay, the move paid off: Goff threw a six-yard completion for a first down. Several Goff kneel-downs later, kicker Riley Patterson nailed a 41-yard field goal as the game ended.
The Lions won 41-38 and improved to 7-2 on the season, keeping them a game ahead of the Minnesota Vikings in the win column in the NFC North. Maybe they would have won either way, but Campbell’s bold move was not just a strategic decision but a statement of intent for a franchise still seeking its first Super Bowl appearance. Fortune favors the brave.
Stat of the week
89. That’s the number of points the Dallas Cowboys have scored against the New York Giants over the course of two games this season after their 49-17 win on Sunday. Meanwhile against Dallas, New York have scored … well, just those 17 points, having been blanked 40-0 in the teams’ first meeting. Clearly, this is a decidedly one-sided rivalry right now. The Cowboys are 6-3, good for a wildcard spot if the season ended today. The spiraling Giants have excuses: they’re down to their third-choice quarterback and have suffered other key injuries. But being 2-8 after making the playoffs last season is fairly soul crushing.
Video of the week
JOSH. DOBBS.
— NFL (@NFL) November 12, 2023
📺: #NOvsMIN on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/kECSNGbyLL pic.twitter.com/Zd2xyhCX3c
The Josh Dobbs Experience continues! After making a huge splash in his debut against the Atlanta Falcons, Vikings quarterback Dobbs continued his winning ways during a 27-19 victory over the New Orleans Saints.
What’s really impressive about this touchdown run is Dobbs’s decision making, as he spots a clear path behind him and then circles around to avoid the Saints’ defenders before making the final leap into the end zone.
Josh Dobbs didn't know where the Vikings home locker room was 😂😅 pic.twitter.com/UiC1mgC1FW
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 12, 2023
Dobbs’s combination of speed and smarts helped him prove that the Vikings’ hopes didn’t end with Kirk Cousins’s season-ending injury. Minnesota now have a 6-4 record, keeping them in touch of the Lions in the NFC North. Not bad for someone who is so new to his team that he couldn’t find his locker room before the start of the game.
Elsewhere around the league
-- Kyler Murray returned to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Without Murray this season, the Cardinals had gone 1-8, tied for the league’s worst record. Against the Atlanta Falcons, he helped engineer a final drive in a 25-23 come-from-behind victory. Of course, he had a little help as the Cardinals were only in a position to win on Matt Prater’s chip-shot because the Falcons failed to convert a two-point conversion after scoring a touchdown on the previous drive.
-- The New England Patriots travelled overseas but the change in continents didn’t stop their losing streak. Playing in Germany, the Pats lost to the Indianapolis Colts 10-6 – with the game ended on backup QB Bailey Zappe pulling off the rare fake spike leading to an interception – dropping them to 2-8, the worst record in the AFC. It would be bad news if the team didn’t desperately need a high draft pick, particularly since they don’t appear to have in-house answers at quarterback given starter Mac Jones has shown no signs of improvement this season.
-- Upset of the day! After taking a 17-3 first quarter lead over the Cleveland Browns, it looked like the Baltimore Ravens were going to run away with things. However, Cleveland chipped away at the lead and eventually won 33-31 on a last-second field goal. Along the way, Lamar Jackson’s MVP case also took a hit, as he threw for two interceptions and just a single touchdown in the loss. The news wasn’t entirely bleak for the Ravens, who are still 7-3 and in first place in the AFC North, but they missed a golden opportunity to become the AFC’s first eight-win team this season with the Kansas City Chiefs on a bye.
-- The Green Bay Packers had a chance to take a fourth-quarter lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers but Jordan Love’s would-be TD pass was tipped in the end zone by Patrick Peterson and intercepted by Pittsburgh’s Keanu Neal, effectively sealing a 23-19 Steelers victory. Pittsburgh improved their record to 6-3 – keeping themselves in the playoff hunt – while the Packers fell to 3-6.
-- The Jacksonville Jaguars came into their game against the San Francisco 49ers with a five-game winning streak. The 49ers, meanwhile, were coming off a two-game losing streak after possibly bringing QB Brock Purdy back from a concussion too early. Purdy looked just fine on Sunday, throwing for 296 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-3 dismantling of Jacksonville. The two teams lead their divisions with 6-3 records.
