Texans leaning on Stroud's 'competitive edge' for playoffs

HOUSTON -- C.J. Stroud is fueled by competition. The Houston Texans quarterback will compete in anything, anywhere -- on or off the field.

"If you're competing against him, you got to bring your s---," tight end Dalton Schultz told ESPN. "Because it doesn't matter what it is -- f---ing cards, dominoes, football, jogging off the field -- my guy wants to win."

But after taking the league by storm in his rookie season, Stroud's statistical drop-off in his second season has become one of the biggest surprises of 2024. It has been a constant fight to keep what he calls a "competitive edge."

Despite the struggles, Stroud still helped the Texans get to the playoffs as AFC South champions for the second consecutive year, and he's determined to return to form for the playoffs.

The Texans had Super Bowl expectations after a promising 2023 in Stroud and coach DeMeco Ryans' debut seasons. But 2024 had its ups and downs, with a 31-2 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Day in Week 17 being the low point.

"The difference that I've had this year is I haven't had as much fun," Stroud said heading into Week 18. "That's something I want for the team again. ... But it's a fight. You got to go get it. It's been a year of sowing seeds for me. So just learning more about me as a man and as a football player as well."

Locked into the No. 4 seed heading into Sunday's finale, Stroud only played in the opening drive of Houston's 23-14 win. Now, the Texans (10-7) will host the Los Angeles Chargers (11-6) in the wild-card round Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, CBS) -- with Stroud serving as one of the main reasons the Texans believe in themselves.

Whenever players and coaches talk about Stroud and his fierce personality, they'll mention his game-winning drives, practice reps, locker room competitions and more. It's something he hopes to use as they embark on their playoff run.

"I'm still fighting for my peak competitive edge because I haven't really gotten to it as much as I would like," Stroud told ESPN. "This year, I had it at the beginning of the season. I feel like I fight every day to get that edge back. ... It starts and stops with me. It's not always easy. It's heavy. I've been trying my best to keep that fire."

AFTER THROWING FOR 4,108 yards (eighth in the NFL) with 23 touchdowns (13th) as a rookie, Stroud finished the season 15th in passing yards (3,727) and tied for 15th in passing touchdowns (20).

The decline isn't all on him. He has been pressured on 38.9% of his dropbacks (third most) and sacked 52 times (second most) as the Texans' offensive line ranked 22nd in pass block win rate (58%). The unit struggled with defensive twists and stunts that opposing defenses threw at them leading to 52 unblocked pressures, second-most, according to Next Gen Stats.

Wide receiver Nico Collins was leading the league in receiving yards before he went on injured reserve with a hamstring injury after Week 5 and missed five games. Then came season-ending injuries to receivers Stefon Diggs, who tore his right ACL in Week 8, and Tank Dell, who suffered a gruesome left knee injury in Week 16. Stroud's top three receivers played in only three full games together.

Collins still feels his quarterback persevered through it all to help give the Texans a chance.

"That's something about this league -- injuries are going to happen, hiccups are going to happen in season," Collins said. "I feel like, as you go, you've got to adapt. I feel he did a great job with that."

Coming off a divisional round loss to the Ravens last season, Stroud believed the Texans had a "target" on their back after an expensive offseason in which they added running back Joe Mixon, defensive end Danielle Hunter and Diggs.

Expectations might have been high for Houston, but Stroud's were higher. If the offense wasn't practicing well, his frustrations were almost impossible to hide -- like when he barked at the offense for a sloppy training camp day in the August rain.

But he would also bark at himself if he wasn't playing to his standard. During the last session of team drills on Day 3 of training camp, Stroud ran a bootleg rolling right but was under pressure. He threw a wobbly pass toward the sideline and it fell incomplete. He walked away and yelled "F---!"

After a couple minutes Stroud walked to the quarterback group that hovered behind the third-stringers before taking a knee with his helmet pressed into the ground.

Quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson raised his hand and Stroud thought the starters were back up, so he grabbed his helmet and took a short sprint, but Johnson was letting him know practice was about to end. Stroud slammed his towel into the ground knowing he wouldn't be able to continue to correct the mistakes in the moment. To let off his frustrations, he stayed and ran sprints.

"He always wants to win," Ryans told ESPN. "Whether we're doing competition periods in practice, just good on good, offense versus defense, or when we have our situational practices, he is fired up. I love that about him."

Sometimes practice battles are settled with basketball. The Texans have third-down competition periods on Thursdays where the starting offense and defense face off for a set amount of reps. If it ends in a tie, the tiebreaker occurs in the team meeting where each side selects a player to shoot on a mini basketball hoop.

"[Stroud] is normally ... being picked," wideout Xavier Hutchinson told ESPN. "He'd be beating himself up if he missed a shot, like he's an NBA player."

FOR OFFENSIVE LINEMANTytus Howard, Stroud's fiery urge to compete was most evident this season in the Texans' Week 5 win against the Buffalo Bills. They were facing Diggs' former team but were without Mixon (ankle) and Howard (hamstring), and they lost Collins in the first quarter after he injured his hamstring on a 67-yard touchdown.

Throughout the week, Stroud had a consistent message.

"He just let guys know, 'Hey, we got guys going down. We are still the better team than this team. We're going to make s--- happen,'" Howard told ESPN. "We went on to play a phenomenal football game. It was probably our most complete game of the year."

Stroud went 28-for-38 for 331 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He set up the game-winning 58-yard field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn with a 5-yard pass to running back Dare Ogunbowale to reach the Bills' 41-yard line with two seconds left.

Houston started 6-2 and traveled to face the New York Jets in Week 9 with Stroud ranked sixth in passing yards (1,948) and tied for 10th in touchdown passes (11). But with no Diggs or Collins, Stroud completed a career-low 36% of his passes for 191 passing yards and was sacked a career-high eight times in a 21-13 loss.

The next week, the Houston Chronicle reported Stroud held a team meeting to talk through what might be going wrong. After the meeting, the team went 1-1. But in Week 12 against theTennessee Titans-- who wound up with three wins and the 2025 No. 1 draft pick -- Stroud threw an interception with 41 seconds left in the first half, leading to a Titans field goal.

The Texans lost 32-27 as Stroud tossed two touchdown passes but threw two interceptions, doubling his total from 2023 (four).

In the locker room, Stroud's frustration was visible, as he looked emotional, and some teammates tried to comfort him. He felt he was letting the team down and knew he was better than the mistakes.

"It's no secret I haven't been playing well, for my standard" he said. "I've got to be better."

Through the challenges, Stroud has kept striving to find ways to keep his edge. At the end of the team meeting the Monday before Week 17, Stroud stood up and gave a rallying speech. It was about getting ready for playoff football as the Texans sat at 9-6 with an opportunity to compete against one of the best teams in the AFC on the national stage.

Even though the Texans lost to the Ravens, the goal was to plant seeds in his teammates' mind to prepare them for what's to come despite injuries. Houston is a three-point underdog against the Chargers, according to ESPN BET, and some pundits have given them little chance to win, but Stroud loves the doubt.

"Noise is always going to be there," Stroud said. "It's part of sports, always evident in this sport. And they said the same thing about us last year [for the playoff opener against] the Browns -- and I'm not saying it's last year -- but we went out there and did what we had to do to win.

"I kind of like being the underdog. I've been the underdog a lot of my life in my career. So, it's actually comfortable for me."

Ryans believes the team has to play "complementary football" to be at its best, but he also knows what he needs from quarterback to help lift his team as they try to win the franchise's first Super Bowl.

"You see it when [Stroud's] on and playing well," Ryans told ESPN. "You see that competitive fire, it's about others playing well around him as well. When we play well around him, and we set him up for success, and we do that on a continued basis, everybody's successful."br/]