I was curious how much CJ has improved after a full year of NFL experience, and with Mixon and Diggs in our offense now. It's interesting how close his stats are from his first 6 games in the NFL to his first 6 games this year. He has almost identical yards and RTG. He has way more interceptions though and 3 more sacks, which honestly is surprising. His completion percentage is a lot higher though, and his QBR is higher. 2023 - 1660 yards / 2024 - 1577 yards 2023 - 13 sacks / 2024 16 sacks 2023 - CMP% 59.6 / 2024 CMP% 68.8 2023 - RTG 97.1 / 2024 RTG 98.0 2023 - QBR 56.8 / 2024 QBR 63.95 2023 - TD/INT 9/1 / 2024 TD/INT 10/4
I love Stroud but he doesn’t look better than last year…I have a little more confidence in 2023 Stroud, he was more explosive and now he does a lot dink and dunk, he never dinked and dunked last year…I see 2025 Stroud as the year he really takes that next step…
More tape = better schemes for a specific player. Stroud has said so himself. A couple of his interceptions have been well schemed defenses to take away the middle of the field. The great play by the defender last week against Buffalo, for example.
But, he had a GREAT year last year. Frankly, hard to improve very much. I’m very pleased with his performance so far. Not sure how much better he can get.
I look at it like this. He hasn’t been as productive as last year, there’s tape on him. But, he’s still putting up numbers and wins, the next step is to counter the counters. I believe he will, he’s a smart kid.
I think he’s holding on to the ball a tad too much. Maybe the play is taking longer to develop or he’s just likes taking deep shots. Teams are taking away the deep plays across the league so it’s not just CJ with lower than expected numbers.
It's more impressive productivity this year. I have the penalties canceling out 100 passing yards and 25 rushing yards. All converted first downs wiped out so who knows how many more yards he could have accumulated after that. So that's 280 passing yards per game, including a match up that was Texans vs Texans vs Ex Texans defenders. And in a few weeks he will go into Metdeath stadium which naturally lends itself to uglay football. And if the running game is as effective as today, 220 yards passing is more than enough. Look around the league. The screen game is where he could improve throughout the season. They look so discombobulated
Whether CJ averages more or less YPG or TDs compared to last year is inconsequential. What matters is the fact that in terms of situational football, he has gotten better. It's getting harder and harder to count him out of any given play, and he's showing maturity in terms of taking what defenses are giving him and demonstrating patience in the passing game. Defenses have seen a lot of him now, so it's natural for there to be a bit of a step back in terms of explosive plays, but 3rd and Stroud is very much a real thing, and that's when he shows his true colors. Just look at his QBR when pressured or blitzed, and you'll see just how elite he truly is, and how much he's even improved from last year. We are so blessed to have this dude be our franchise QB.
Stroud is seeing 2 high safeties at like an NFL high percentage of snaps. Defenses are respecting him a ton this year and are basically daring the Texans to beat them with the ground game and dink and dunk passes. Believe me, I'm sure Stroud would love to open it up over the top, but when the defense is playing back and doubles anything past 10 yards, you have to take what the defense gives you.... Anyone remember the deep balls and scoring runs the Chiefs went on in Mahomes first couple years? Yeah, the Chiefs don't get to do that anymore either because defenses are dropping 2 safeties and playing cover 2/4/6. This is what happens when your QB is elite.
100%, it's the same transformation Mahomes had to go through once defenses had tape and took away the explosive 1 on 1 outside matchups. He also JUST turned 23 by the way, so we're not even into his prime yet.
That Bills LB made a 5head play last week for the INT. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap. That wasn't a bad read by Stroud, the LB in question had his back turned when Stroud pulled the trigger, little did Stroud know that the LB was baiting him. It happens. Edit: Best believe that Stroud won't fall for it again.
Barring results from MNF; CJ is: a yard behind burrow for 5th most in the nfl, 5th in TDs, 12th in QB rating, 6th in passing yards per game, 6th in sacks taken, 9th in completion percentage, and his 4 picks are 20th in the nfl
CJ is definitely covering up a lot of warts on this offense with his ability to keep moving the chains on 3rd & longs. Hopefully, the run game continues its trajectory and CJ will have to be Superman less often.
I honestly don't believe this. I think it was CJ or WAJ before BY on their draft board. But they were good at not giving a tell about their plans.
