Texans QB C.J. Stroud addresses MVP momentum
C.J. Stroud hears all the fuss folks are making over his rookie season. The Texans quarterback knows there are some who tout him as NFL MVP.
He thinks maybe people should step back with the hype. Because this guy not only knows how to read defenses, but he’s keenly aware of how to slice through the hype.
“It’s been cool to be able to be in the [MVP] talk, but just like they love me this week, they’ll hate me the next,” the Texans quarterback told reporters during his weekly press conference. “So, I don’t try to look at that stuff. I try to stay even-keeled and just stay on the straight and narrow, and just work really hard and make my teammates around me better.”
It’s difficult not to pump up a quarterback after he makes this kind of play. Check out the video of the Texans quarterback making the Bengals’ defense look foolish.
Maybe he grasped this concept when he led the Ohio State Buckeyes. The quarterback in Columbus always is at the center of the fickle college football universe. Or at least adjacent to it. The Texans selected Stroud with the second pick of April’s draft, so there was a ton of attention focused on the QB before the season started. And now, he’s helped put the Texans, who won three games in 2022, in the center of the playoff chatter.
True, the season is entering its 11th week. There are a lot more games. But heading into late November action, Houston is 5-4 and one game behind the Jaguars in the AFC South.
“It’s cool to have people recognize some of the things that I’ve done or — as a team, we’ve done,” Stroud said. “I don’t think it’s just me, but it’s really cool to see. Especially the vets who will reach out or say something on Twitter, and I have people who text me stuff [and] things like that, so I really appreciate that. It doesn’t go unnoticed.”
CJ STROUDDDDDDDDDDDD. #TBvsHOU pic.twitter.com/gW2PMBVIbj
— NFL (@NFL) November 5, 2023
Stroud said his Texans teammates and coaches hold him accountable. In fact, he says it’s a team thing. But Stroud is doing some special things. He led the Texans to a dramatic, 30-27 come-from-behind road win over the Bengals. He threw for 356 yards in the victory. The game before, he threw for 470 yards and five touchdowns in a comeback over the Bucs.
The NFL discovered some really in-the-weeds stats to reveal more context to Stroud’s rookie season. He led winning touchdown drives within the final two minutes against both the Bucs and Bengals. Before Stroud, no other rookie quarterback had done so in consecutive games in the last four decades. He’s also the first rookie quarterback to throw for more than 800 yards in a two-game span.
Stroud said: “This game keeps you honest and it keeps you humble, you know? So, it’s a humbling game and it makes you really, really look yourself in the mirror and see, ‘Did you prepare the right way? Did you do this the right way?’ Because everything will be tested on that Sunday. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.”
The Texans play host to the Cardinals this Sunday.