00:00A fifth straight victory, huge win on the road at Arrowhead, and big W, big W for the Houston Texans as they are now in the playoffs.
00:15Let's look at C.J. Stroud. We do this after each game.
00:18What was C.J. Stroud grade as we're looking, and I'm seeing a lot of people send some things in.
00:24Text line coming in B-plus or A. He's got to be that field general that can overcome the O.C.
00:34B-minus, he was missing some throws that he would have made his rookie season.
00:38D, let's call a spade a spade. C.J. has insane ability talent-wise.
00:44Mills is a distant second, but Mills would not be able to make that third and 17th throw, so C.J. can do things he can't do.
00:53C-plus, he was not accurate, and that's his strength.
00:58Maybe B-minus because no interceptions.
01:01Clint, for you, what was your grade for you?
01:06It was a B-minus for me, Ron, and here's why.
01:10You know, look, I think the first half, and I'm going to talk about this at 4 o'clock,
01:14the first half was vintage C.J. from 2023 is what we were looking for, and did some really good things.
01:19But when you look at kind of what knocked him down for me is, I don't care who the quarterback is.
01:30I don't care what system you're in.
01:32When you can't handle situational football, when your offense can't, that's a quarterback problem as well.
01:40Now, I think it's the O.C.
01:41I think the lack of preparation is embarrassing, but there's a level of, man, you're expected to be a big-time quarterback.
01:48You've got to take this bull by the horns.
01:50Look at that second half.
01:51I can't give anybody even remotely close to an A that has three completions in the second half.
01:55Again, a lot of it's not on him, but it is what it is.
01:58It would have been a C, but he made some big-time throws in critical moments of this game to give us a chance.
02:05And so I went with a B-minus based off the TV copy of this game right here.
02:10I went B-minus.
02:13Yeah, I think it's B-minus C range to me just because now that we know Clint, and I agree with you, I think the O.C.'s got to help.
02:25But now that we know, Clint, that he does have some power in terms of determining calls right there at the line of scrimmage,
02:38I mean, you would think he would put himself in the line as well as Nick Caley in better positions.
02:45Because there were times they're walking right up there.
02:48I mean, I don't know if they're shifting, sliding the protection one way.
02:51Whatever it was, people are just coming through easy.
02:55And to me, when we know that he has the ability to have some semblance of control on the protections,
03:03especially in that third and fourth quarter, I do think some of that has to fall at his feet as well.
03:10This is different from maybe years past.
03:12So I'll go B-minus because he just made some plays, and he outdid in Patrick Mahomes.
03:18He outplayed Patrick Mahomes in this game on the road in a game that Patrick Mahomes had to have.
03:25So I'll give him a B-minus, but the protection calls, some of that's got to fall with him.
03:30Yeah, the whole thing.
03:31I mean, when you're the quarterback and your offense, including you, looks overwhelmed for, you know, a quarter-plus,
03:39when situational football, like when you come out of a timeout and you have to take another timeout to keep and get a delay game,
03:45when you have so many, like I don't know the details behind all of these alignment issues that the Texans are having.
03:56But it seemed to be less of an issue with Davis Mills.
04:05And so that leads you to believe that there's a – and more importantly, D'Amico Ryans constantly talks about getting out of the huddle as a problem, right?
04:15And so I've got to believe that there's some level of the operation of CJ in the huddle,
04:22getting everything's communicated and getting the huddle broke on time is delaying this offense to a certain degree.
04:29Now, again, to me, we're at a point in the season where the coach ought to say, hey, man, if that's a problem, hell with it, man.
04:35Get on a line of scrimmage and let's ride.
04:36You know, let's sugar huddle.
04:38Let's not huddle this thing all the way up.
04:40Let's figure out a way to get beyond it instead of keep beating a dead horse, right?
04:43But needless to say, as we're grading the quarterback, some of this has to fall at the feet of the quarterback.
04:48Because that was the biggest issue with the offense was they just couldn't get protection well enough to give themselves a chance.
04:58It's just back to the same old – I'm surprised we haven't heard the technique and mechanic stuff on the offensive line stuff.
05:04You know, it's the lack of communication.
05:06It's not breaking the huddle quick enough and getting the line of scrimmage so everybody can see what's going on
05:10and get their assignment communicated.
05:13It's the same issues that we've been hearing for two years now with this.
05:18Now, I don't – again, I think it's a coach's job to realize what a guy can and can't do.
05:24What is his limitations?
05:25And if this is a C.J. Stroud limitation thing, then figure it out as a coach to eliminate that from a problem
05:31and put the kid in position to do what he does in a special way and that's going to make plays, right?
05:38It's just hard for me to believe, man, that it's just we're two years into this thing
05:42and we're still talking about communication and breaking the huddle.
05:46It's just wild.
05:47It seems like – and I don't study other teams, but it seems like other teams that have franchise quarterbacks
05:55that are established or guys that are coming like C.J. Stroud,
05:58it seems like they're so much further along when it comes to this kind of stuff, right?
06:03I mean, during that whole chaotic situation yesterday where C.J. Stroud's snapping the football
06:09with not knowing where the pressure's coming, why did he never call a timeout?
06:14As a quarterback of that situation, you're the guy on the field and you are put in a position
06:20where you're like, I have no idea how we're going to pick this up.
06:24Timeout, man.
06:24We've got to talk about this.
06:25Or what was happening when the drives ended.
06:29Yes.
06:29Yeah, the whole thing.
06:30Like, it's not –
06:30When you had extended time over there.
06:32It's an interesting dynamic, and in a segment where we're grading C.J. Stroud,
06:38I don't think all of that should be laid at his feet, but I do think, obviously,
06:41there's some responsibility of it there in that rough third quarter,
06:45really the rough second half.
06:46So, I can't go any higher than a B minus.
06:49Our guy, Joe, the old A&M Aggie, I see you.
06:52He gave him a D.
06:53He still looks clueless and lost more often than he should after three years.
06:57I don't agree with that at all, Joe.
06:58You know I love you.
06:59Again, I still think he made some plays and some throws that they would have
07:08lost the game had he not made the plays.
07:11Oh, there ain't no doubt about that.
07:13The first touchdown – both the touchdowns, both touchdowns that the Texans
07:18scored last night, C.J. Stroud made plays that Davis Mills wouldn't even
07:25attempt to make.
07:26But that he'll – I don't even know if anybody else in the division can make
07:33the throw.
07:34The first touchdown they had, he's going to the sideline and he goes cross-bodied
07:39to the middle of the field to Nico Collins.
07:41That leads into a big play that sets them – that's the big play that sets him up
07:45for the touchdown.
07:46And then when Andy Reid does make the bonehead decision and mistake, it's a third down
07:52and he is pressured immediately by Jones and runs out and hits Higgins for a big first down
08:00that they don't score a touchdown if he doesn't make that play.
08:04Right?
08:04There's a real argument.
08:06You think Davis Mills, if that's who was in the game, would get sacked by Jones on that play
08:10and he was able to – so he made plays that I believe they would have lost the game
08:15had he not made them.
08:18But as you said, man, you complete three balls in the second half and your offense is just
08:23struggling and we know that you're supposed to have the ability to make some decisions
08:28with the protection.
08:29And that was never getting better and really never did.
Be the first to comment