Instead of punt, they should have done the formality of a "super safe" conservative" 4th down play. Or a wild play. No in between. Like run a draw, call a bland screen, run a bootleg flood one side. Its surrending within the play, not putting the ball on harm's way, instead of not doing the play at all. Or go all fly routes Hail Mary. Chunk it as far down field as possible "as good as a punt". Or trick play like a WR/RB pass, that actually takes the ball out of CJ's hand. And it's still considered "creative risk in the moment" Its generally the Texans D that has the opponent surrending like that. Crazy seeing the Texans show credit to the other defense as being "too good to try" (When it's really conceding that CJ is that bad from trusting)
What I struggle with is the unknown. What we did know is what we got from CJ through 6 quarters of football. I was ok with giving Mills and the unknown a shot for the next two.
“Leaving him in the game, …that’s worse for his confidence than pulling him. If a guard is getting worked and gives up 3/4 sacks and have a good 1B, you’re gonna rotate the guy in. Why do we tip toe around QBs? What about the entire team? What about that defense that is historically good and good enough to win a SB if they have a QB that doesn’t turn the ball over. I don’t know if you can even call what Houston was doing “offense”. Standing in front of your room, in front of that defense, “I didn’t want to **** up his confidence and I love CJ Stroud.” Well do you love us? For ****s sake, you have one window and don’t know when you’ll get back and you got a half left, two scores down, I don’t know how you thought CJ was going to bring you back in that football game.”
[Schefter] ESPN’s telecast of Sunday’s Texans–Patriots matchup became the most-watched event in ESPN history, dating back to the network’s launch in 1979, with 38 million viewers.
Holy p***y! Mulugheta call? Dan Monday: Houston wins that game with 31 other QBs. Dan Thursday: I crossed the line. Also Dan in same clip: CJ Stroud did the one thing he couldn’t do and that’s why they lost the game. Spoiler: For Dan & Bernard
