- 2 days ago
ITL takes a deeper look at C.J. Stroud, who at times appeared nervous, out of sorts, frustrated, and confused — and debates what’s really going on and how concerning it should be
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00:00On the play prior to that, C.J. Stroud had fumbled the snap and had to recover it.
00:05And if that wasn't a microcosm of the entirety of this football game for one, C.J. Stroud, a fumbled snap, a mistake of sorts.
00:14And then on the back half of that, finding just a beautiful throw with protection to Christian Kirk, who had a phenomenal game.
00:22In fact, notched the most receiving yards of any Houston Texan in a playoff game.
00:27That was a microcosm of this game offensively for C.J. Stroud in particular and for this offense at large.
00:34So let's have the conversation because C.J. Stroud looked like a lot of things in this game and not all of them were good.
00:39I actually don't think it was a microcosm of the game.
00:42I think he was largely bad.
00:44He had some moments, but he was largely very, very bad.
00:49Now, I want to make sure people coming in and out of the show understand, I started this show saying, this is the year, isn't it?
00:55I believe that.
00:56I believe it's fair to say that out loud because this defense is that good.
01:00I think at the end of the year, we're going to look back on this defense and say, man, that's one of the greatest ever.
01:07And if things go the Texans' way, we might be saying, man, they finally did it.
01:11You know, that defense carried this team to a Super Bowl.
01:14We could easily be saying that.
01:17I don't think anybody, if that happened, obviously we'd be thrilled.
01:20But when you talk about C.J. Stroud, just an average C.J. Stroud, just the mean, you know, of quarterback play.
01:30And this is absolutely a Super Bowl team.
01:33Sure.
01:34I mean, 100%.
01:35That capability, it feels like it's there and it feels like that was further proof of it, seeing the defense.
01:40But he was largely bad.
01:42You can't sugarcoat that.
01:43Well, let's hear from C.J. Stroud and how he felt about it.
01:45C.J., you know, how were you able to bounce back from the two really bad plays?
01:51Yeah, you know, we had some problems with the snaps, me catching them, you know, got to find a way just to catch them and then take care of the ball.
02:00You know, we knew on tape that they did a good job of, you know, punching at the ball or trying to, you know, get you to, while you're throwing, get your throwing arm.
02:09So, you know, I try to work on that throughout the week.
02:11But they made plays and these games and playoffs games, from my experience, they're going to make plays.
02:15We're going to make plays.
02:16It's all about, you know, moving forward and, you know, trying your best to, you know, flush it and keep going.
02:20So, you know, I thought, you know, when every time we had to bounce back, you know, we made more plays.
02:25So, I mean, I'm proud of our guys for having a little bit of resilience in those moments.
02:28And, you know, to finish the game like that was really dope.
02:31No question he had his moments.
02:32And I'm not trying to take away from those moments.
02:34All I'm saying is, if you're running a balance, you're balancing the scales here, the scale tipped in one way.
02:41He looked, shout out to Christian Kirk, too.
02:44What an incredible game he had.
02:45I think worth every penny, even though the regular season might not have been what we thought.
02:50But he looked nervous.
02:52He looked out of sorts.
02:54He looked kind of, at moments, frustrated, something of a basket case.
03:00I mean, he had five moments.
03:01That's heavy words to use.
03:03I said something of a basket case, and I'll say it again.
03:05He looked like it.
03:06Yeah, no, I was listening to the broadcast, the radio broadcast.
03:10And even Andre Ware was like, man, he was giving me the Laramie Tunsil feels when he kept jumping off sides.
03:17He was kind of giving those feels to it.
03:19I'm like, man, what's going on?
03:21At that point, I'm like, it got to be mental.
03:23We have to be honest.
03:23I think this is a Super Bowl team.
03:25Flat out.
03:25But he was bad last night.
03:27That was not a good performance.
03:27And all he has to do is be average.
03:29What was it?
03:30Five fumbles.
03:31Yeah, five fumbles.
03:32Interception.
03:33Yes.
03:33And it was a bad interception.
03:34That was a bad interception.
03:36It was red bone interception.
03:37Did y'all want to hear the call for that interception?
03:39Yes, please.
03:40Stroud shotgun shoved to his right.
03:42Two receivers wide side left stacked up.
03:45CJ puts the leg down on third and four.
03:47Here's the snap.
03:48Stroud looking.
03:49Stroud pumping.
03:50Stroud in trouble.
03:51Stroud throws last moment.
03:53And it's picked off by Echols.
03:55Rolls down.
03:56And he's going to be brought down.
03:57That's three turnovers in the game.
03:59He didn't have to do it, Dre.
04:00I don't understand what he's doing tonight.
04:02I really don't understand what's going on between the ears of CJ Stroud tonight.
04:07Just throw it away.
04:08Kick a field goal.
04:09You've got three points in your back pocket right there.
04:13Take the field goal.
04:14And let's keep it moving.
04:16You don't have to throw the ball just for the sake of throwing it.
04:19And God forbid, don't just throw it up over the middle for somebody to just grab it and grab an interception.
04:26Create momentum for the Steelers.
04:29Yeah.
04:30Besides the momentum thing.
04:31But it really did feel uncharacteristic.
04:34And the question I think we were asking ourselves, the things that I was thinking of, and I texted you guys this, I'm not saying that this absolves him of some things because I think we have very much to talk about the notion that it feels very much like he was pressing in a way that feels odd.
04:49But I did wonder, were his hands cold?
04:53Because the ways that he was not catching the football or fumbling the football, letting the football fly out of his hands.
04:59Now, one of them was the flea flicker where you wait too long, you let pressure get to you, and then they hit your hand.
05:04That's just a football thing of a quarterback not having the presence, you know, feeling that presence in the pocket or just being a little greedy and wanting that deep shot too much to not give it to the football.
05:14I think that one's there.
05:14I can't do that.
05:15I wonder, though, with the other ones where stupid to step up in the pocket into pressure, but then the ball just kind of slips out of his hand there.
05:23There's instances where, with the snap, Jake Andrews is not putting it right on the money, but it's catchable.
05:27And he's not catching it.
05:29And it makes me wonder, are your hands cold to the point where you're not having the rights and station?
05:33And then why do you not have hand warmers in that moment if that is the case?
05:36This is me trying to find answers because, if not, those plays in particular, like those instances of holding on to the football, just that portion of it, don't make sense to me.
05:44Yeah, I can't go there, man.
05:46I mean, you know, I just, your hand's cold.
05:49I just can't go there because it doesn't explain, even if your hands were cold and it maybe slips a little bit, you're still trying to, like, just sort of fumbling the ball out of your arm.
05:57Or getting hit and letting go of the ball or throwing a really bad pass, as you just heard from Andre Johnson.
06:06I mean, Andre Ware.
06:07I mean, from Andre Ware.
06:09I just can't go there.
06:11I think it's, as Andre Ware said, it's a between-the-ears thing.
06:14I can't explain why, but just be average because he cost the Texans at least nine points last night when the game was still very, very close.
06:26It was seven to six.
06:27Maybe 17 because on that one, that was clearly at least three points.
06:33It might have been seven.
06:34At the end of the half, he had a wide-open Nico Collins that would have put him on about the 35, 30-yard line.
06:41And he bullets that thing and would muster too high.
06:44And there was nobody over there.
06:45There was no reason for him to do that.
06:47Way too wide-open.
06:47So that's another at least three points.
06:49Yes.
06:49And maybe you take a shot into the end zone there.
06:52And then there was a three after a fumble, which, to the defense's credit, they only gave up those three points on the turnoff.
06:59But that's at minimum nine points, perhaps 17 points.
07:04And that wasn't because your hands were cold.
07:06No, no, no.
07:06He made some mistakes.
07:07And I am far from saying that that doesn't have any reason – it's the small things of why is he not holding on to the football.
07:12That was a portion of it because that was some of the turnovers.
07:15The actual play itself, very much, he was pressing.
07:18And it was so odd because it felt like he had done such a lot of work within the system to buy into the thought process of just protect the football,
07:29make the plays that are there to be made, get rid of the ball if there's not plays to be made.
07:32And it felt like early on in this game, before you even would have reason to press, he was pressing.
07:38And that was odd.
07:40And I don't know how to spin that forward because, in some ways, if he gets back to doing what he had been doing in the weeks prior,
07:46I think that you see a performance that is incredibly dominating as opposed to just the regular dominating that you had here.
07:53But, two, that popped up out of nowhere, and it worries me about what in these moments.
07:59What worries me is it compounding itself because, keep in mind, early in the year, he would have a bad game or a bad stretch,
08:08and it compounded itself to the next game.
08:10Remember?
08:11Yeah.
08:12That's my worry.
08:13Don't – and, you know, God bless D'Amico Ryans.
08:16He's been saying, just don't turn over the ball.
08:20You know, don't get too greedy.
08:21Don't, you know, get ahead of yourself.
08:24That's exactly what he needs to do going into New England, especially with perhaps no Niko Collins.
08:29Yeah.
08:29And within this game, even, he had at least moments – we played one of them – where he had one of those moments
08:35and immediately steps in and delivers a good ball.
08:37The thing that was frustrating is even some of the good plays that he made within this game,
08:41as a texter does note as well, he seemed to make them just a little bit harder because the placement was a little off.
08:46The Kirk touchdown.
08:46It was an off game that he made a little bit – he made more difficult.
08:50And I don't quite know exactly what to do with that.
08:54I believe – we've seen him be capable of playing a much steadier game and an even better game than that.
08:59And it was neither of those.
09:00Like, I don't want to make it seem like he was atrocious in this game because he did have –
09:04Yeah, it's a moment.
09:04A number of plays and a number of good decisions.
09:06But I think also they had to kind of put some guardrails around him in this game in a way that was really uncomfortable.
09:12Well, I was talking about this before the show, you know, half-kiddingly, not all the way-kiddingly,
09:18in terms of just the scope of the game.
09:20He was like the kid that got an A on a project but didn't do anything because everybody else handled it for him.
09:25All the honor students in his group handled it for him.
09:27Yeah, I wonder if we would have had a different tone to this if they won 7-6.
09:32Like, I wonder how people would have really felt if this game was 7-6 instead of 30-6.
09:38A lot of people, you know, heck, just in the hallway right now, you know, somebody was so excited.
09:44Hey, man, I think, you know, they're going to go to the Super Bowl and we're chatting.
09:47And he's like, yeah, but what's C.J. Stroud going to do?
09:49Yeah, what's C.J. Stroud going to do?
09:52It's bizarre.
09:54Remember yesterday I was talking about, you know, does he want to be, you know, great?
09:59Has he watched all these games and said, you know, I'm going to carry the load?
10:03When you talk about pressing, that's kind of where I went.
10:06It's like he's trying to make the super-duper spectacular play, you know?
10:10No, man, you don't need to do that.
10:12Yeah, and maybe this game is encouraging within it, first and foremost, that you actually won it
10:16when your quarterback had a number of turnovers.
10:18Five times putting the ball on the ground, three or just, yeah, five fumbles, three, you know,
10:24three times the ball goes the other way, and you actually get out of it with a victory.
10:27That rarely happens, but maybe that is enough to catalyze it for him where he goes,
10:32all right, I don't need to feel the pressure.
10:34And I imagine D'Amico Ryans and the rest of the coaches are going to try and sit him down
10:38and reiterate that to him because it took him out of being the quarterback that he's capable of.
10:44Like, in trying to push forward and, like, push for more, he made himself worse.
10:48And that is unabitable.
10:50Now, I think that that could be the encouragement within this,
10:52if you choose to try and find the silver lining is, that's such, so anomalous.
10:58It was made, the point was made.
10:59He hadn't turned the ball over.
11:00He hadn't turned the ball over this year.
11:02He hadn't fumbled the ball like that before.
11:05Like, that was such an anomaly that maybe the way that that happens, looking back at it,
11:09you can very much flush it the way that he says that he can or says that you should,
11:14and that will be the anomaly.
11:15And if you get the bad game and it tank you, maybe that is the good thing within this, right?
11:22He got the bad game out, and he will stray further away from it.
11:25That was not a good game from C.J. Stroud, and thankfully you get the victory nonetheless.
11:30Yes, 100%.
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