C.J. Stroud impresses Texans teammates despite loss in NFL debut

BALTIMORE -- Even though Houston lost 25-9 to the Baltimore Ravens, Texans players and coaches were impressed with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud's poise and performance in his debut.

"7 was balling today," Texans wide receiver Nico Collins said postgame.

Stroud finished 28-for-43 for 242 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, but despite the offense never getting in the end zone, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans was pleased with what he saw from the No. 2 pick.

"First time out, C.J. was in a tough place to play, a tough opponent, a lot of things were stacked up against him," Ryans said. "But I thought he handled himself well."

Among the obstacles stacked against Stroud that Ryans was referring to was playing without three starters on the offensive line.

Left guard Kenyon Green, one of Houston's first-round picks in 2022, was placed on injured reserve following the final preseason game and is out for the season. Rookie center Juice Scruggs and right tackle Tytus Howard were placed on injured reserve after the 53-man roster cut-down day. Both Scruggs and Howard are out of the first four games.

As a result, Stroud was sacked five times with a lost fumble, but he never lost composure in the face of the numerous negative plays.

"It's part of my job. Honestly, I could've did better. Just answering the bell extra next drive, next play, just making more plays," Stroud said. "I always just think being negative isn't going to help. Just being the light on the team and being like a cool, calm, collected one can help a lot.

"That's my job of being the quarterback, keeping everybody even keel and try to go to the next play as best we can."

Where Stroud showed efficiency was in the short area range. On passes under nine yards, he went 14-for-18 for 130 yards with a passer rating of 96.8, but he completed only 50% of 10 attempts for 78 yards on throws longer than nine yards.

Another strong suit for Stroud was throwing passes under 2.5 seconds. He went 14-18 for 119 yards with a 94.2 passer rating. The effectiveness decreased when he held the ball for over 2.5 seconds, going 14-for-22 for 123 yards.

Overall, the Texans' offense was spotty throughout, as the unit finished with 268 total yards, went 0-for-2 in the red zone, 1-for-4 on fourth downs, and converted 38% of their third downs.

"Offensively, we have to have a clean operation. It wasn't clean enough when we were on offense," Ryans said. "We wanted to have a clean procedure, and it wasn't. So we have things to clean up, things to fix, and a lot to learn from this game."

One of the issues from the Texans' offense during Stroud's debut was the lack of a rushing attack. The team rushed for 72 yards on 23 attempts, led by running back Dameon Pierce, who had only 38 yards on the ground after averaging 72 per game as a rookie.

"Five-man front, good run defense and aggressive linebackers. Nothing we didn't practice against [and] nothing we didn't prepare for," PIerce said. "They played to their identity. We've just got to make sure we play to ours.

"We want to be a clean team -- a clean procedural team -- running the ball with efficiency, getting first downs running the ball, setting up our passing game, and we couldn't get any of that rolling today. And, like I said, we were shooting ourselves in the foot. But we're going to clean it up this week."

The Texans have their home opener in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts (0-1), another team with a rookie quarterback starting in No. 4 pick Anthony Richardson.