Surely, those cardiac kids have one nail-biter left in them, right? The Houston Texans have exceeded every expectation on the path to a Week 18 regular-season finale against the Indianapolis Colts. Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud has been the largest part of their climb. While the team went 1-1 in his concussed absence, they returned to their explosive selves in Week 17, thrashing the Tennessee Titans 26-3. Now, two 9-7 teams face battle for a spot in the AFC playoffs. It’s a do-or-die game in every sense of the word, and it’ll be on Stroud to once again lead Houston to victory.
On Tuesday, Stroud spoke about his thinking ahead of the biggest game of his NFL career. “It is what it is, you don’t want to make it too high, make it too low, just a regular game,” Stroud added. “Told my teammates earlier, it’s the same game we’ve been playing since we were young. Nothing changes, got to just prepare hard and do everything we need to do to attempt to win this game and I think that’ll carry us home. But try to make it too huge and that’ll freak you out, make you nervous.”
Stroud’s makeup has helped the Texans buy-in, but few parts of Houston football have been as exciting as his performance. He’s passed for 3,844 yards, 21 touchdowns, and five interceptions on his way to earning the ninth-most win probability amongst quarterbacks in 2023. Stroud has been fantastic, and for much of the season showed actual growth week-over-week. “I think I’ve grown a lot in a lot of different places,” Stroud added. “I think our team has grown as a whole. I think we’ve put numerous games together for our team to stick like glue. We’ve come into a terrific circumstance, now we’re starting to pick up our synergy better than ever. So, it’s like night and day from Week 2 to now.” Week 2 saw the Colts visit Houston and beat the Texans 31-20. Stroud passed for 384 yards and two touchdowns but spent most of the game playing from behind. Houston will seek to turn the script in Indianapolis on Saturday.
A win would certainly put the cherry on top of an Offensive Rookie of the Year-caliber season and, more importantly, propel the Texans to the playoffs. It would come in the shape of a Wild-Card berth unless the Titans upset the Jacksonville Jaguars. Even so, it’s inspiring football and a meaningful late-season came far earlier than most imagined for this Texans reconstruction.
They’re playing with house money, though Stroud’s words and the culture he epitomizes would never let that escape. Houston has already won, but preseason expectations don’t matter when anymore. The only thing that does is beating Indianapolis.
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